Beautiful Nightmare
by Hika-chan1
Summary: *Sequel to Empathy* CH 11 UP * It's been a year and half since Meteor hit, Vincent And Ral are raising Seph and things have calmed down. But how long will they stay that way? (rating for Cid and Reno cussing)
1. Starting Over

All FF7 characters and places are Copywrited to Square Soft. They are not mine *pout*  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
A FF VII Fanfic By Hika-chan  
  
CHAPTER 1: Starting Over  
  
Kalm had grown into a very busy town, at least half the survivors of the former city of Midgar had moved there after its destruction. It had been a year and a half since then, Vincent and Ralena had grown closer, but had remained in separate rooms. Barret had moved to North Corel to help rebuild the town. Marlene and Elmyra went with him, mostly because Barret did not want to have to worry about Marlene being alone while he worked. Tifa and Cloud were living together in Nibelhiem, Yuffie went back to Wutai, Cid back to Rocket Town and Red back to Cosmo Canyon. Reeve went to Gongaga to help rebuild and had Cait stay at Gold Saucer to help raise money for his efforts. Reno stayed to help out at Kalm for a little while before moving to Junon with Elena and Rude. Each of the existing cities grew and a few new hamlets had appeared.  
  
The tide of technology had changed since then, especially in terms of producing energy. Mako had been abandoned as a power source, it's number one replacement was solar energy, other areas took advantage of the wind and water as an energy source.  
  
Ralena lived on the southeastern edge of Kalm in a large house she shared with Sephiroth and Vincent. Right after the disaster at Midgar they had used it as a place in which to temporarily house some of the orphans from Midgar. The real orphanage finally cleared out enough to take care of all the orphans a season before, as it turned out most of them had just gotten separated from their parents and were happily reunited.  
  
Sephiroth was about five now and they were going to have him start school within the next few months. Today Vincent was taking care of him, so Ralena was free to relax for a day. It was nice to get away from the town for a while, to ride around, just her and Haretia like it used to be. She was happy to not have to worry about her powers. Out on the fields she didn't have to worry about anyone else's emotions imposing upon her own. Even though it had become easier to control over the months she still always had to have some measure of control. Out here she could let it all go. She was on her way to the chocobo farm on Haretia, there was a male chocobo there that the blue chocobo had grown quite fond of, and she was thinking about buying it. As it turned out the green chocobo that Haretia was so fond of was one that had been owned by Cloud and AVALANCHE, so after one call she was able to get it for a relatively cheap price. She picked up some greens and headed back out towards Kalm.  
  
When she got home she put the new chocobo in the gated field with Haretia. "Now listen up girl, I expect you to tell your new friend how things work around here k?" The chocobo squawked and she patted her neck before feeding both some greens and heading back into the house. "Vincent! Seph! I'm back!"  
  
She heard a steady thumping on the wooden floor coming from the living room. "Lena, Lena! Look what I did!" Sephiroth came running around the corner with several pieces of paper in his hand. She kneeled down beside him and Vincent walked around the corner as they talked. Ralena began to flip through the pictures as Sephiroth said what each one was. "That one is… is Haretia, and that's one's a dog, and that's us outside our house. Vincent drew that one."  
  
Ralena looked at the picture, it was her, she grinned up at him. "Well I think they're all beautiful, you're almost as good as Vincent."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah really." She ruffled his hair and moved forward to whisper in his ear, "Guess what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I got a new chocobo out back, why don't you go check'em out?"  
  
"Really? Wow!"  
  
As he ran out back Ralena and Vincent followed standing on the back porch to watch him. "I didn't think you drew."  
  
"I used to draw with him when he was young, in… happier times."  
  
"If you hadn't noticed these are happier times Vincent. No ShinRa, No Meteor, No Jenova…No Hojo."  
  
"It's been so long since any life like this has been available to me that it is hard to believe."  
  
"Yes I know. I finally have a home, a family." Vincent raised a brow at her and she laughed, "More or less. It's almost perfect don't you think?"  
  
"… Almost. What's the green one's name?"  
  
"huh? Oh he's Thunder."  
  
"...?"  
  
"Don't look at me I didn't name him."  
  
After breakfast one day Ralena spied Vincent teaching Sephiroth how to read and write. Whenever Vincent played with or taught him he actually seemed happy, she watched them and idly flipped through the mail.  
  
"Vincent?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What are all these calls to Junon? One of these isn't Reno's or the others' numbers."  
  
"There's a doctor there."  
  
"A doctor? What for?"  
  
He lifted his claw, "This."  
  
She glanced at the phone bill then back up at him, "I don't understand."  
  
"Keep practicing Seph, I'll be right back." He walked up to Ralena and took her into the kitchen. "I've realized I can't get rid of this, but I think perhaps this man might be able to give me something that looks a bit less… disturbing."  
  
"How can you be sure?"  
  
"It's the same man that put on Barret's gun arm."  
  
"You want a gun on there?" she asked sarcastically  
  
"No, something that looks more like a real hand. Anyway he's set up in Junon now."  
  
"I see. Well then when do we leave?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Come on. We can go to Junon visit my brother, maybe we can even go to Costa Del Sol afterwards, and we can take Seph with us."  
  
"Won't it be dangerous?"  
  
"A little, but we'll be with him. Why don't we just make it a nice long vacation? Then we can go and see everybody and Cid can take us from Rocket Town to Wutai. Then we can get back just in time for Sephiroth to start school." He opened his mouth to say something but she put a finger to his lips, "So it's a trip?"  
  
With a resound sigh he nodded, "Yes."  
  
"Great, I'll tell Seph, call ahead to Reno and we can leave in…two- three days."  
  
She ran out as he put a hand to his head, "How in the hell did I fall in love with such a stubborn woman?" Vincent stopped as soon as the words left his mouth. Did he just say what he thought he did? Did he say "love"? He went into a silent meditation upon the word until he was disrupted by a tugging on his pant leg. He looked down and saw Sephiroth holding up a piece of paper.  
  
"Is this a good 'k'?"  
  
The next morning Ralena awoke a bit warmer then she expected. Whatever it was lay against her back. Perhaps Sephiroth had another nightmare. She rolled over and realized she was quite mistaken, Vincent lay next to her, his hand was lying upon her waist. The would-be vampire must've come into her room that night. "Hey," she whispered, "Vincent." His red eyes opened slowly and if she didn't know any better she would swear he was blushing. "You know, if you wanted to sleep here all you had to do was ask. Or did you just have a bad dream?" she teased. He was about to answer back when she planted a feather light kiss on his lips. "You're real comfortable but we gotta make breakfast." She got out of bed and put a robe on over her pajamas. "Can you go see if Sephiroth is awake yet?"  
  
"Of course," he said getting out of bed, he was wearing some loose pants and no shirt. She cast him a sly smile and headed down stairs. As she started breakfast she pondered the unexpected yet pleasant action made by Vincent. She smiled wondering if all those little glances and smiles she gave him had helped encourage such behavior. Her smile spread into a small grin, gee she might have to do that more often.  
  
The day before they left Ralena awoke at some time during the night, once again in Vincent's arms. She turned her body towards his, careful not to wake him. She stared silently at his features, barely visible with the quarter moon's light coming in through the window. She lightly traced his jaw line with her fingers following it with her eyes. She then moved them over his lips before brushing a strand of hair behind his ear. As her hand rested on his neck his eyes opened, she smiled gently and he did in kind.  
  
"What time is it?" he whispered.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"What are you doing awake?"  
  
"Looking at you." He seemed confused and her smile grew ever so slightly. "Just… the way you are… mysterious, dark and handsome. It's almost like... a beautiful nightmare, except…"  
  
"Except?"  
  
"Except I'm not afraid."  
  
He smiled with a sigh, moving his hand to her face, "Is there nothing you are afraid of?"  
  
"Only that this is a dream, and when I wake up I'll be alone."  
  
"There is no need to fear that," he moved his head in slowly and kissed her, gently at first, but it soon grew deeper. Before they knew it their passions accelerated as one, each fueling the other, till nothing existed, save each other.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: We're gonna leave them alone now... Maybe I'll go back and... elaborate later I dunno.  
  
*blushes* ahh I can't bring myself to write lemon!!! *runs and hides* 


	2. Bad Dreams & a Little Chat

All FF7 characters and places are Copywrited to Square Soft. They are not mine *pout*  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
A FF VII Fanfic By Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 2: Bad Dreams & a Little Chat  
  
The following morning they set out, Ralena and Sephiroth rode Haretia and Vincent was on Thunder. Because of the warmer weather Vincent had abandoned his red cloak. They would spend a night at Condor Village before finally getting to Junon. There were fewer monsters out then there were before meteor, so the riding was smooth, with only three brief encounters, and a chase from a Zolom. When they got to Junon they met the Turks at the restaurant next to their bar.  
  
When they arrived Reno flagged them down "Hey Ral, Vince what took you so long?"  
  
"Haretia was nervous, she doesn't like big cities."  
  
"Thunder didn't like it either," Sephiroth piped up.  
  
"Whose Thunder?" Elena asked.  
  
"A new chocobo of ours." They all sat at the table, Sephiroth between Reno and Ralena with Vincent next to her. The conversation at the table was light, mostly concerning the plans for the trip and how The Turk's business had been doing. They had opened up a bar. Recently there had been debate as to whether or not to get a pool table, but that seemed to be the hardest decision so far, that and who should pay for a broken window. The person who broke it, or the one that threw them through it. When they all got to Reno's apartment, where Ralena, Vincent and Sephiroth had planned on staying, Sephiroth was fast asleep. Vincent put him down in the bedroom.  
  
"I'm impressed brother, I thought a bachelor pad would be much messier than this."  
  
"Yeah, well when Elena heard you guys were coming she rushed over and made me clean it up. She even made me fill the fridge with stuff other than beer."  
  
She sniffed the air, "Ahhh indeed, and the only cigarette I smell is off your jacket."  
  
"Comes from working in the bar," He answered.  
  
"Comes from smoking too much," Elena corrected.  
  
"Whatever, It's still early, you guys wanna play cards?  
  
"Sounds good to me."  
  
"Elena get the chips?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
The five sat down around the table, Ralena, having never really played poker before started off miserably, but soon picked up on the game. By the end of the night Rude had the most followed by Vincent with Reno in close third. "Go figure," Elena sighed, "The two stone faced guys win."  
  
"You're just upset because Vincent bluffed you out with a pair of eights," Reno stated.  
  
"Your point?"  
  
"The point bein' it's midnight and sis and Vince gotta get up early, so I'll see you guys tomorrow."  
  
"Well ya don't gotta be so rude about it Reno, geeze," Elena whined, picking up her things  
  
The next day Reno stayed with Sephiroth, taking him down to the park. "Come on kid I'll buy you a hot dog." They sat down on the bench, Reno slouched down on the bench, sitting his ankle on his knee. "So how're things goin on the home front?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"How are things living with Ral and Vince?"  
  
"I like it a lot, Vincent is teaching me to read an' write and Lena's teaching me to ride an' play piano."  
  
"Really? They teachin' you to fight?"  
  
"Fight?"  
  
"Yeah you know kid, defend yourself."  
  
"Not yet, Lena said when I'm older."  
  
"hmmm… how old are ya?"  
  
"Five."  
  
"Yeah, I guess sis is right, but it's still good to start early. But If I see you next summer an' you ain't started yet I'm gonna start teachin' ya ok?" The boy nodded. Reno took a bite out of his hot dog and spoke again before swallowing it, "How are Ral and Vince getting along anyway?"  
  
The boy thought, as if trying to figure out exactly what the question was asking. "Vincent's been having bad dreams."  
  
Reno took another bite confused at his answer, "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well when I have a bad dream Lena let's me sleep in her bed and Vincent's been doing that too."  
  
Reno stopped chewing. With a large chunk of hot dog in his mouth he turned toward the child and blinked once… then twice. He swallowed. "Did I… hear you right kid?" The boy looked at him confused. "Did you say… that Vincent's been… sleeping in my sister's bed? With her in it?"  
  
Sephiroth, not seeing anything wrong with it, answered, "uh-huh."  
  
"Ohhh boy." He would have to have a little "chat" with Vincent. "So," Reno started, again trying to act cool, "How was you're trip over here?"  
  
The boys eyes lighted up, "We got to ride Thunder an' Haretia, and we got chased by this BIIIIIIG snake thingy that Vincent says is a salmon."  
  
"I think that's a Zolom kid."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I'm glad we got that over with," Ralena said as they walked up the steps to the apartment, "all those machines were making me nervous."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Growing up a guinea pig in a lab can do that to a person. All those wires and gizmos, and needles and such, gives me the creeps," she shuddered. "I'm surprised it doesn't bother you."  
  
"Considering that part of me is a 'gizmo' I try not to let it get to me." Ralena suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. He smiled ever so slightly, "I know you don't think of my claw like that." She smiled back and took his claw into her hand.  
  
They opened the door to the apartment finding Reno and Sephiroth sitting on the couch with cards in between them. "Oh hey sis, what's up?"  
  
"Reno, you're not teaching him poker are you?"  
  
She hadn't expected Sephiroth to answer, "I'm teaching him go fish!"  
  
"Yeah and he's beating my pants off too."  
  
"Uh-huh… Yeah bro."  
  
"Hey Vince, I was thinkin' you and I could go for a drink down at the bar wadda ya say?"  
  
"I don't drink."  
  
Reno put his cards down in mild irritation and approached the older man, "Ok well, you don't really have ta drink, but I was thinkin' about some male bondin' ya know?" He looked over his shoulder as Ralena headed towards the kitchen. "Besides," he whispered, "there's something I want to talk to you about."  
  
When they got to the bar Reno ordered himself a drink, once he finished that one and the next, he ordered another. The whole time Vincent remained silent waiting for the man to talk. Half way through his third drink Reno finally turned his attention from his conversation with the bar tender to the dark man sitting next to him. "Ok Vince."  
  
"Vincent."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I would much prefer it if you would not call me 'Vince.'"  
  
"Ok then, Vinny."  
  
"…Vince is fine," He sighed.  
  
"Anyway, Ral is my baby sis, so as her big brother and only famly I am inclined to want to protect her, and I have it on a reliable source that you are currently rather… close to my sister. This being the situation, I am obligated by the stero-type gods to make sure you know," Reno's voice then turned deadly serious, "if you ever, I mean ever, do anything to hurt her. Transform into a monster or no I swear I will fill you with so many kilowatts that they'll have to put you in a plastic coffin so you don't shock the pallbearers, you hear me?"  
  
Vincent just stared blankly at the man. "Should I ask your 'source'?"  
  
"Well," the Turk replied taking another drink, "Seph said you've been having bad dreams lately." Vincent was visibly confused, "He knows that because Ral lets him sleep with her when he does." He gave Vincent knowing look, but his eyes still revealed an underlying threat. Vincent on the other hand was less worried about Reno and more surprised at how perceptive the boy had been. When he thought about it, the explination, to a child, made perfect sense.  
  
"Don't worry Reno, I have as much intent of hurting her as you do."  
  
"That's good to know," Reno said knocking back the rest of the drink. "I'll try an' remember you said that. Hey gimme a scotch."  
  
Vincent shook his head and sighed, "Are we done 'male bonding' now?"  
  
"Why ya askin'?"  
  
"So I can leave."  
  
Before Reno could answer two young women approached the pair. "Hey Reno, who's you're cute friend?"  
  
"Yeah, I've never seen him around before."  
  
Reno grinned, "Girls this is my buddy Vincent, Vince this is ummm... Tina and Trish."  
  
The blonde looked at Reno and smacked him upside the head, "It's Lily and Jessica!" He answered them with a sheepish grin.  
  
For some unknown reason Vincent attempted to speak up in his defense. "If it makes any difference, ladies, he is on his fourth drink."  
  
They both laughed, "Oh please we've known Reno here to put a lot more away than that!"  
  
"Say," Jessica said wraping an arm around Vincent's neck, "How about I buy you a drink?"  
  
Vincent narrowed his eyes at the girl and removed her hand. "I'm not interested and I don't drink." He stated coldly. The woman quickly retreated towards Reno's vacant side. "I'm leaving Reno, see you later." With that said he turned and left.  
  
"Gee Reno he's not like most of friends. He's kinda creepy too."  
  
"Yeah but at least he's loyal."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"He's seeing my sister."  
  
The girls looked at each other and laughed again, "Well I guess she's not too much like you then huh?"  
  
"Yes and no. Anyway, how about I buy you girls a drink?"  
  
Three days later they left for Costa Del Sol, the doctor had agreed to work on the new hand and to call his cell phone(PHS) when it was done. For the most part their stay there was rather uneventful, Costa Del Sol had changed very little since the distaster, as it still remained a tourist spot. The only real difference was the addition of solar cells to several of the roofs. After a week there (Vincent refused to stay any longer as Ralena kept insisting that he "get a little more sun") they moved on to North Corel. Unlike Costa Del Sol however, this place had changed dramatically since the disaster. With Barret appointed mayor the hard working people of the town all but scraped the now useless Mako reactor and used it to make tools, vehicles and better homes.  
  
The town's trade had become more prosperous when they opened several Inns for Golden Saucer tourists to stay in. They had also opened a mine which was rich with several materials needed for solar cells. The town had expanded into the mountain side and down into the now much greener valley below as employees of the Golden Saucer began to live with them. With the Mako reactor closed and the mako energy blocked from the surface the land around Corel grew more and more rich, the opening of the valley was now surrounded in farms which also assisted in the towns growing prosperity.  
  
When they arrived Sephiroth and Marlene intstantly greeted each other with a friendly shout of each others names before running inside to check out her latest toys. Elmyra was the next to greet them. "Elmyra you live with Barret?" Ralena asked somewhat surprised.  
  
The older woman nodded, "I'm more of a nanny and house keeper. He's been so busy trying to rebuild and better North Corel that he needs someone to help take care of Marlene. Besides I wasn't about to let him leave her alone."  
  
"Is Barret home now?" Vincent asked.  
  
"Not at the moment, though he should be back soon, he said he had to work a little late. Please come inside." For a typical mayor the house was not that extravagent but it certainly wasn't awful. "Marlene has a bunk bed so Sephiroth can stay in there and there's a bed in the guest room and a sofa bed in the living room." Vincent and Ralena glanced at each other, "I figured you two could decide who gets which room." As of yet Ralena was not aware of her brother's knowledge of her relationship with Vincent and she was not sure if they should let on to the others about it or not, of course everyone did know they were living together. "Ralena could you give me a hand in the kitchen? I've got dinner going."  
  
"Huh? sure thing."  
  
Vincent followed the two women into the kitchen, "Is there anything I can help with?"  
  
Elmyra thought a moment before answering, "Just watch the kids, make sure they don't get into too much trouble." He nodded and did as he was bid. "So how are you and Vincent getting along?"  
  
"Pretty good."  
  
"How have you been making money?"  
  
For some reason Ralena thought the question a little odd but she answered nonetheless. "Well every once in a while we get called to take out the more aggressive monsters. I've been giving piano and riding lessons to a few of the kids. Vincent has been doing some gunsmith work, but he's trying to find something else because the need for weapons is not as big as it used to be."  
  
"Any idea what he's looking into?"  
  
Ralena thought a moment as she picked up a spoon to stir the pot. "I'm not really sure, he may be looking into being a mechanic I think."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Well there's more need to fix cars and stuff than guns and I noticed he'd bought a book on the subject so I'm guessing that's what he's up too."  
  
Elmyra nodded, "Yes that makes sense, and he must already have some exprience with machines because of his claw right?"  
  
Ralena grinned, "You know I didn't even think about it like that. I guess I'm just so used to it I don't think of it as anything other than his hand."  
  
Elmyra smiled, "That's good."  
  
The following day was almost like a holiday for the childern, and though he would not admit it, for Barret as well. Somehow Elmyra had manage to convince the gruff mayor of North Corel to take a break. All four adults nearly exhauseted themselves chasing after the hyperactive children. One would have thought they had been injected with gallons of sugar and then just let go. Elmyra got the idea that the grown ups should take turns in pairs. Fortunately it had worked, and it also gave Vincent and Ralena time for a nice quiet ride in a gondala.  
  
He watched her face she looked out at the multicolored lights that lit her it. Feeling her eyes on him she turned to him. She smiled, then let it falter slightly as she spoke up. "Vincent?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"We.. should tell the other's right?" His blank look told her he was not sure what she meant. "I mean about us. I sort of feel bad already for not telling Reno."  
  
He smiled and moved to sit next to her, rocking the gondola slightly. He smiled at her. It never ceased to amaze her how naturally he did that with her and Sephiroth. She was so amazed at how serious Vincent always seemed otherwise. As a man who only smiled when he meant it he rarely smiled at anyone else. "Whatever you want to do. You know I care little what others think."  
  
She put a hand to his face, "I think that... is part of your problem." Vincent simply raised a brow in response.  
  
-----------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: Anyone know a good name for a bar the Turks might open? hee hee Like the way Reno found out? *evil grin* 


	3. The Big News

Final Fantasy VII and all characters therein do not belong to me! They belong to Squaresoft!  
  
Note: Due to Cid being in this chapter the use of the "f-word" is quite prominent where he is present (and for once I didn't "bleep it"). You have been warned.. that does qualify an R-rating on it's own doesn't it?  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
A FF VII Fanfic By Hika-chan  
  
CHAPTER 3: The Big News  
  
Ralena was actually quite surprised at how easily the news came to Barret and Elmyra. The motherly woman simply smiled knowingly like she had known all along. Barret hartilly slapped Vincent on the back with a laugh and a "Took you long enough!" When they got to Cosmo Canyon and finally told Red, he also took the news as though it was long expected.  
  
"Why doesn't anyone seem surprised, Nanaki?" Ralena wondered.  
  
"Well it seems only natural," Red commented, "You are living in the same house and raising a child together. What else should one expect?"  
  
"Well ya got me there... call me crazy but I was actually hoping for a bigger reaction out of people." She grinned, "Maybe we'll fare better when we tell Cloud, he never was to quick." Vincent cast her a queer look and Red just shook his head.  
  
"Look!" Sephiroth shouted happily as another approached, "There's another Red like Nanaki!"  
  
Ralena and Vincent looked up to see another lion like creature walk up to them. Vincent turned to their friend. "I thought you were the only one of your kind, Nanaki."  
  
"Yes well, it turns out there was a small tribe in hiding..."  
  
"Nanaki are these the friends you mentioned?" Ralena blinked at the distinctively female voice.  
  
"Yes this is Vincent and Ralena," he nodded towards the child, "and that's Sephiroth."  
  
"Hello." she said before casting a suspicious look at the child.  
  
"Jana there is no need to stare," Red whispered to his fellow cat.  
  
"Why isn't your tail like Nanaki's?" Sepiroth asked.  
  
"Hmm?" she looked back, unlike Red's tail hers had a very yellow flame while his was darker and more red. "That's because I'm a girl."  
  
For the most part the stay in the canyon was quite nice. Sephiroth had a grand time playing with several of the cubs, though Ralena could not help but notice the cautious, suspicious eye that some of the adult cat beings watched him with. She sighed and leaned into the Vincent near the bonfire, "I worry for him so much."  
  
"Do you fear he will become what he once was?"  
  
She shook her head, "No, never. But the way others treat him, even other's that don't know he's the same Sephiroth. They think he's a freak, they hate him, and they don't even know him. She smiled sadly against his arm, it's sad to think that no one knew him the way I knew him."  
  
He moved his arm around her glancing over to the boy before looking down at her. "Do not worry so much for him, I am sure he will be fine."  
  
"My you sound awfully sure of yourself."  
  
"I have faith in us, Ralena. Between the two of us, our love for each other and our love for him..." He smiled lightly, "He will be a good man Ralena."  
  
She looked up at him and smiled, "I love you, you kow that?"  
  
"Indeed, and I you." They shared a quick chaste kiss before getting up to go to bed, they had some travelling to do tomorrow.  
  
The news was delivered to Tifa and Cloud over lunch, unfortunately the method in which they first heard the news was in the same way Reno had heard it. "An' Vincent's been sleeping in 'Lena's bed so that's how I know he's been having bad dreams."  
  
Tifa stared.  
  
Ralena choked.  
  
Vincent wondered why he didn't end the line of questioning earlier.  
  
Cloud who had thus far been ignoring Sephiroth and looking at him more like a circus freak than a child, blinked, then burst out laughing.  
  
"Cloud don't laugh!" Tifa scolded. He managed to reign it back into a chuckle.  
  
"Sephiroth..." Ralena began hesitantly, "you shouldn't..." She wasn't sure exactly what it was he should not do, but she knew he had done it.  
  
"We would much appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else about that," Vincent finished for her.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because..." once again Ralena's reasoning had been lost due to embarassment.  
  
"Because it is something... private not to be shared with others." Ralena nodded. Then Vincent looked to her she looked back and noticed an odd look in his eyes. A kind of childish guilt, "By the way Ralena... according to Reno, he found out the same way."  
  
She turned to him her face coming closer and closer to matching her hair. "And you didn't tell me?!" His look told her he was not sure why he had chosen not to. She looked up at Tifa and Cloud, who no longer looked amused. "I'm gonna go for a ride, excuse me."  
  
Vincent sighed. Sephiroth looked up at the serious adults, "Did I make 'Lena mad?"  
  
"No," Vincent told him, "I did."  
  
Riding around she began to realize, that while she might have thought it a big deal, Vincent might not have. In his mind it was probably more of a "he was going to find out sooner or later" situation. But still... it seemed to sit differently with him and she wondered how. She kicked Haretia up into a trot and stopped thinking about it for a moment. After a minute or so she felt a wave of dizziness hit her, somehow sensing her distress the chocobo slowed, but was unable to prevent her rider from falling off.  
  
Lying barely concious on the ground Haretia worridly nugded her rider. She squawked and cood softly for a moment before becoming nervous. The chocobo knew that she could not carry her, or drag her back the distance they had come. To get help would be best but the nervous bird also knew that there must be preadators nearby. Ralena winced, her eyes barely opening through the pain. "Get Vincent girl... hury." Having little choice, especially now that she had been given a command, the bird ran as fast as she could back towards Nibelhiem.  
  
Tifa sat there watching Sephiroth draw across the table from her, Cloud and Vincent had walked outside only a few minutes ago. The blonde had been showing him around the house, telling him about the remodling that they (Tifa) had planned. It was just mind boggaling that this mere child before for her had, in all techinicality, been the same man who burned down her home and kill her friends and family. But somehow, this child could not drudge up the same anger in her. There was still was some bitterness there, but she believed that to be from the memory itself. Though sitting across from him now did bring back that memory, she could not help but think of the potential of children. How simple they were in their cheerful little worlds where everything was so new. But while they took on so much new information they never seemed to stop, processing so quickly, that they would move right on to the next thing without mssing a beat.  
  
What she found most amazing was that by simply looking at a child you could not tell if he would become a hero or a murde-  
  
Tifa looked up as she heard squawking and scratching at the door. She stood, making a gesture to Sephiroth that he could keep drawing. She opened the door surprised the see a blue chocobo's head come in through the doorway, it's size preventing it from entering much further. "What in the-" Suddenly she acknowledged the paicked state of the bird. "Vincent! Cloud!"  
  
The two men came in from the back, rushed by the tone in her voice. Vincent froze when he saw bird. "Where's Ralena?"  
  
"I don't know, she just came up to the door squawking."  
  
"Stay here and watch Sephiroth." He grabbed the reins led the bird all the way outside before mounting it. He could feel his panic rising as they ground rushed beneath him, and the bird was not helping his mental state.  
  
After several agonizing minutes he saw her laying there, her red hair splayed out upon the grass. He all but jumped off Haretia and to her side. "Ralena, Ralena are you ok?" now unconcious all she could do to respond was roll her head to one side and groan. Gently he picked her up and walked toward the chocobo, "Haretia down." The chocobo complied, sitting on the ground. He sat on the mount cradeling Ralend in his arms. He grabbed the rein with his claw and urged her forward. At a slower easy pace, so as not to jostle her to hard. She regained conciousness before they got back. Confused and a bit disoriented Ralena soon felt embarassed about falling off her trusted steed.  
  
-A few days later-  
  
"I told you guys I'm fine, really."  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to stay another day or two, just to make sure you're alright?"  
  
Ralena smiled at her friend, "Tifa I'm fine really. Besides if we do that it will look like we only showed up at Rocket Town just to bum a ride off Cid."  
  
Cloud grinned, "Yeah, but now it'll look like you're trying to bum food off of him too."  
  
Tifa caught a look of Ralena's smile, "What is it?"  
  
"I just remembered, that's where we first met."  
  
Cloud grinned, "Hey that's right! You hit Palmer with that truck!"  
  
"You ran someone over 'Lena?"  
  
The empath blanched slightly at the child's question. "Yes, but he was a very bad man. You should never hit anyone with a car like that do you understand Sephiroth?"  
  
"Yep!"  
  
Taking the path through Mount Nibel they reached Rocket town that evening, as they were not staying with Cid and Shera Ralena was not sure they should bother them until morning. But as it happened Cid was walking outside for a smoke when they passed his house. "Holy-fucking-shit! What the hell are you guys doin' here already?"  
  
Ralena belatedly put her hands over Sephiroth's ears. "Hi Cid. we didn't know whether or not we should wait till tomorrow to bother you or not... Why are you smoking outside?"  
  
Cid shrugged, "Well it seems a man's home is his castle right? Turns out as soon as you gt maried the home turns into a fucking female dominated society."  
  
"Cid who are you talking to?" Shera opened the door and smiled at the visitors. "Oh hello, how was your trip here?" Sephiroth waved at her, his ears still covered by Ralena's hands.  
  
"Not to bad. And no one really seemed all that surprised about me and Vincent so far."  
  
"Surprised? Shit! You mean you actually got this guy to show some emotion? Fuck I can't believe it!"  
  
"Cid! Watch your language there's a child present!"  
  
"Yeah Shera I hear ya,-grumble grumble-"  
  
"What was that?"  
  
Cid was about to respond when Ralena giggled at the scene before her. "What the Fu-... what the hell are you laughing at!?"  
  
"Cid!"  
  
"What? 'Hell' isn't a curse word."  
  
Shera shook her head in dismay, "Why don't you put the chocobo's in our yard and come inside."  
  
Vincent took Haretia's reins from Ralena, "I'll get them, you go on inside."  
  
The red head smiled, "Thanks hon."  
  
The door closed and Cid burst out laughing, "'Hon!?' Oh that is too fucking rich! Hey where ya goin'?" Cid followed Vincent around to the back, opening the gate for the red and black clad man. "So you and Ralena finally officially got together huh? Sooo how official is it?" Vincent raised a brow. "Oh come on man have you two....?"  
  
"...," Vincent took the bridle's off the two mounts.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"That, I believe, is none of your business."  
  
"Ah! So you have! Ladies and gentlemen his is a real boy!" Vincent narrowed his eyes, shook his head, then walked into the house without so much as a word, leaving Cid to finish his ciggaret alone.  
  
----------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: I really bullshited some of this and didn't want to BS other stuff so this chapter is really choppy but since I had Chapter 4 done before this one so I really rushed this.  
  
Cid: Well since I'm not gonna be around for a while I better fill in the cussin' quota -ahem- FUck fuck fuck fuck fu-  
  
HC: *Covers his mouth* That's alright Cid, we're bringing Reno back in later to take care of that!  
  
Cid: Whadda 'bout me? Don't you love me anymore *big puppy eyes*  
  
HC: *Is scared of cid with big puppy eyes* errr... I'll see what I can do ^_^'  
  
Cid: *back to normal* good 'cause if you don't I'm gonna burn you with my ciggaret!  
  
HC: @_@ AHHHH!!!! *scurries to find way to put Cid in fic more* 


	4. The REALLY Big News

You don't really think FF& belongs to me do you? I certainly hope not. Cause it doesn't.. it belongs to Squaresoft.... I don't know how that name makes sense either so don't ask.  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
A FF VII Fanfic By Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 4: The REALLY Big News  
  
Cid dropped them off in Wutai despite of the fact that it took time away from his very busy schedule. Even with his mumblings and curses they knew he didn't mind as much as he led on. As they got off the airship Ralena put a hand to her head. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Huh? oh yeah I'm fine. Must've just been the altitude."  
  
Vincent eyed her with concern, "Are you sure? You did have a bit of a spill outside Niblehiem."  
  
"What happened?" Cid asked.  
  
"She fell off Haretia."  
  
"An experienced rider like you?"  
  
"I'm fine," she answered sternly. Vincent raised a brow at her snappy reaction but said nothing until they reached Yuffie's. When she saw them Yuffie all but tackled Ralena with a hug. "It's nice to see you too."  
  
"Oh My God Ralena I can't believe your finally here!! How long has it been?"  
  
"Almost a year now I think."  
  
"Geeze, no kidding?"  
  
"No kidding."  
  
Yuffie Looked behind Ralena to Vincent, waved, and then down at Sephiroth at his side. She smiled and snuck up to him picking the boy up over her head. "And how're you doin'!"  
  
Sephiroth squeeled in surprise when the girl lifted him in the air. She brought him down holding him to her, then with her spare hand she started tickling the boy. He squealed and laughed trying to push away the threatening appendage. "Oh no," Ralena began, "The evil bandit ninja Yuffie has kidnapped Sephiroth and giving him tickle torture!" Ralena lept up as if to defend and rescue her hapless protege.  
  
Yuffie jumped away, "Hahaha you will never get the boy back!"  
  
"'Lena! 'Lena! I wanna be a ninja!!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I wanna be a ninja! Can I be a good ninja like Yuffie?"  
  
For what was possibly the first time in his life, though one wouldn't notice, Vincent Valentine was absolutely speachless.  
  
"What are we going to do about this?"  
  
"Come on Vincent, It's not that bad. It's about time we started teaching him how to defend himself anyway."  
  
"Why don't we just say it Ralena, 'Teach him how to fight.'"  
  
"There is a differance Vincent, and we will teach him that."  
  
"Yes us, but... Yuffie?"  
  
"What about Yuffie? She's a capabable fighter."  
  
"Why not Tifa?"  
  
She grinned, "Would you try and take her from Nibelheim and Cloud? Yuffie is the natural choice."  
  
"Yes but, forgive my bluntness, she is hardly the most disciplined person to be teaching Sephiroth."  
  
"I know she seems like that most of the time, after all she's still a teenager. But she can be very serious when she has to be. One does not learn Martial Arts of any kind without getting some discipline. Remember all those times in battle? Did she seem like a ditzy teenager then?"  
  
"No."  
  
"And she always came through in the end didn't she?"  
  
Vincent sighed, "Yes..."  
  
"So why not?"  
  
"Well for starters we're leaving in about a week, she can hardly train him in that time." He caught sight of Ralena's embarassed grin. "You didn't..."  
  
"Invite Yuffie to stay with us if she wanted? Not yet, but I did hint at it. It depends on if she chooses to teach Seph."  
  
"She doesn't want too?"  
  
"She does, she's very excited about the idea. However she is not sure if she could properly teach anyone, she's never done it before."  
  
"Where are Sephiroth and Yuffie now?"  
  
Ralena sat down by the window looking out at the pagoda. "I believe they're in the dojo. Yuffie is discussing the matter on her teaching with her father and Seph is watching a class."  
  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"  
  
"I have a good feeling about this, yes."  
  
He kneeled down in front of her staring her straight in the eye. "But are you SURE."  
  
"When it comes to raising a child, I'm not sure about anything. This is the first time for both of us remember?"  
  
"Yes. But..." She put a finger over his lips.  
  
"Let's just give her a chance ok?"  
  
She removed her finger when she saw his eyes take on a look of defeat, "Alright."  
  
Wutai was a beautiful place, there was no doubt about that. They spent most of the day walking around, with Yuffie serving as guide. Her little personal additions to the tour made it that much more fun. "And this is where I used to hide when.... And hid here when... OH! This is where I stole all of Cloud's materia...etc. etc."  
  
On the fourth night Vincent and Ralena went out to dinner, leaving Yuffie and Sephiroth to play video games or whatever games they played when they had Yuffie babysit. Ralena was wearing a simple green dress which, judging by Vincent's face, was more stunning then she thought when she bought it. They ate at a much fancier place than usual. Yuffie had made the reservations and Ralena suspected that she may have pulled some strings considering the five star treatment they had recived. Sometime around the main course Ralena started to look worried.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah... It's just uhh.."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I think I finally figured out what happend when I fell off Haretia..."  
  
"Really?" he began to wonder why it was worrying her.  
  
"Well, we were riding outside town, a few miles from anyone, and then I just felt dizzy and I guess I fell then."  
  
"You've said that, so?"  
  
"Well I think I know the reason why I was so dizzy."  
  
He felt her emotions then, a little happy, worried, scared and uncertain. "Ralena?"  
  
She realized she had left her emotions slip and quickly shut the door. "I wasn't really sure at all until a few nights ago..."  
  
"And?"  
  
She kept looking from her lap to him, and an uncertain smile touched her lips. "I uhhh, I think I ..." She laughed, "I think we... are uhh.. going to have a baby."  
  
Had he been eating Vincent would have choked, instead he stared at her blankly for a moment. She started to squirm under his gaze. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Uh-huh," her voice was timid, "I mean, I haven't seen a doctor or anything yet, but I'm pretty sure."  
  
Suddenly the largest smile she had ever seen on him formed on Vincent's face. He jumped up and hugged the empath tightly. "Ralena this is wonderful!" Then his kissed her, something he would never had done in public before now (of course they were in a private booth). "Now I have never been more sure that I love you."  
  
She blinked at the outburst then threw her arms around his neck, "I love you too, I love you so much. Oh Vincent. If it's a girl can we name it Aeris?"  
  
"Why not? Now I have a question."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
He reached into his pocket, "Will you marry me?" Tears rolled down her cheek as he put the modest little ring on her finger.  
  
"Oh yes Vincent! YES!"  
  
The booth door slid open and the waiter looked at the two, "Is everthing ok?"  
  
She laughed, wiping the tears from her face, "Yes everything's fine."  
  
The waiter caught sight of the ring on her finger that was not there before. "Would you like some champange perhaps?"  
  
Ralena refelxively put a hand on her stomach, "Would that be safe?"  
  
Vincent grinned, "I can't stand the stuff myself. No thank you."  
  
"Very well then, I'll just see your to refreshing your drinks." As soon as the door slid closed again Ralena could not help but laugh.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
She imitated a secretive voice, "I think he knows."  
  
"In a few months I think everyone will." He put his hand over hers on her stomach. "So do want to get married before you loose your figure or after you get it back?"  
  
"Smartass."  
  
They returned to Yuffie's family home by the dojo to find the ninja girl sitting by the pond. "Sephiroth's already in bed, how was your dinner?"  
  
"Very nice," She smiled staring back up at Vincent. Yuffie lifted a brow, to clarify Ralena lifted her left hand.  
  
"Oh. My. GAWD! No Way!!" She jumped up and ran over to inspect the ring. "Wow Vince I didn't know you had in you!"  
  
"Not you too."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You called me 'Vince'."  
  
"Oh... don't like that huh?" He gave her a quick glare which answered her question. "Well then are you sure you want me to come back with you then? Seeing as uhh.. you know."  
  
"Actually," Ralena answered, "I think it would be much better now if you came back with us."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Well I'm pretty sure I'm going to need more help with Sephiroth around the house."  
  
"You lost me..." Ralena put her hand on her stomach. Yuffie stared at her confused, then it hit her like a lightning bolt. Her eyes bugged and she nearly fell over, "You're not!" She glance to Vincent, "Damn you work fast."  
  
His eyes narrowed, "Don't make me get my gun."  
  
"It was a joke! Geeze lighten up. So, who's the father?"  
  
"..." Vincent swiped his claw at Yuffie, she jumped away, and Ralena burst out into laughter.  
  
"Come on Vincent! She's Joking! At least I hope so. If not she's slower than I thought."  
  
"What's that supposed to HEY!... oops." She dodged the claw again. Vincent brought up the claw and gestured for her to come closer with one of the fingers. His face was covered in shadows but she was almost positive he was grinning. 'Vincent? Having fun? Gee she's had more of an affect on him than I thought.'  
  
"Come here little ninja," he taunted hauntingly.  
  
"You know if you're just playing with me," She jumped back further, " Then you're not that good at it. You're scarin' me man!"  
  
"Good."  
  
Ralena was practically on the floor.  
  
He had no clue how long he had been in this hell. Everything was dark, always dark. Even when he risked monsters by turning on the electric lights everything seemed dark. He examined the generator with a flashlight he had found not long after he had been condemned here. He wasn't using it now, he always rationed it's power.  
  
Many of those who were buried with him had died not long after the food ran out. Some were even killed by those who went crazy before that, or by being driven insane themselves. Getting lost in the large Labyrinthian tunnels below within what was once the great city of Midgar, only to be found weeks later by the smell of decay. Some were simply unwilling to eat the few creatures that had been able to find their way down here. Others had been killed by disease and infection by eating some of those same animals. Others simply died of depression from living in this dark place. The last of the others had gone some time last week... or was it last month? Or longer? He was never sure.  
  
He had kept track of time by the number of the times he slept. Times that were becoming fewer and fewer in this claustrophobic and dismal place. Where a simple sound or scratching noise could be any number of things. Simply the aging rubble around him, or some creature that would try to eat him only to become food itself. All the others had died.  
  
But not he, he was a survivor, he would always survive, even if the generator broke down or he could not find anymore gas for it. He would survive, he would survive even longer than the light if it came down to it.  
  
He brushed back some of his long, matted, blonde hair. He was tough, he would survive it all. Above all else Rufus Shinra was a survivor, now more than ever.  
  
------------------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: SURPRISE!! this is what happens when I pick up some Rufus Fanfiction, gotta write about him somewhere :) Though I have no idea where I'm gonna go with him.  
  
Rufus: How about a bath.. and a shave and a haircut?  
  
HC: Two bits.  
  
Rufus: What?  
  
HC: Oh you know  
  
Rufus: *blank look*  
  
HC: Haven't you ever seen "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"  
  
Rufus: *blank look*  
  
HC: You know you're not as fun as I thought you'd be.  
  
Rufus: Who told you I was fun?  
  
HC: *narrows eyes* Just flip your Goddamn hair. 


	5. The Nightmare Begins

Hika-chan: In order for me to avoid injury by ciggarette Cid is going to do the disclaimer today.  
  
Cid: *point's out at the crowd like an Uncle Sam poster* Yo listen up! FF7 doesn't belong to this bitch here, and I'm pretty fucking sure it don't belong to none of you out there either.. unless o'course your Squaresoft... O'course I dunno why anyone would wanna read this peice of shi-  
  
HC: HEY! do you mind?  
  
Cid: What I mind is you interrupting me! Now get the fu-  
  
HC: That's it! Get back in the fic and shut up until I tell you too or I'll trash the Highwind!  
  
Cid: You wouldn't  
  
HC: *cracks fingers over keyboard* Watch me.  
  
Cid: Alright alight I'm goin! *mumbles* Bitch. *HC types in a low hanging bar* -BANG!- OW! mother fukin.. sunnova... -grumble grumble-  
  
HC: *grins* he's allot funner than Rufus!  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 5: The Nightmare Begins  
  
Yuffie's father thought that her going and teaching in Kalm was a great idea. In fact he hinted that if she took a liking to teaching she should open a dojo. He was convinced that exposure to their art would generate an interest in their culture and increase their tourist trade. The very idea made the ninja master almost giddy.  
  
Of course Yuffie saw things in a completely different light. She had not been sure whether or not she should be teaching, much less starting a dojo. Perhaps her father was too engrossed with the idea of turning this into a profit machine to notice how nervous this idea made her. This brought Yuffie to the realization that the feeling in the pit of her stomach was not just nervousness for this project, but the feeling that she was being used. Used to keep making Wutai this tourist trap mockery of what it used to be. That's it spread the word, what was she a walking commercial? "Otousan I'm not really sure I could teach a whole dojo."  
  
"Nonesense! I'm sure you're quite capabale." Yuffie turned her head to the ground, he wasn't going to listen... "But," he began more gently, "I do understand your trepidation. I remember the first time I had to teach. You are starting off with this Sephiroth boy?"  
  
"Hai otousan." Great, now she couldn't help but think of the sorry state her city, her country was in.  
  
He nodded, "Try to pick up two or three more students after a month or two. Any age, your lessons will alter slightly as you go along, I'm sure you remember how your own classes differed depending on who was there?" Yuffie nodded. "If you like it you can take on more students gradually... Now one more thing..."  
  
"What is it otousan?"  
  
"We have to talke about what you cannot teach. There are certain things I cannot permit to be taught to outsiders."  
  
"wakata..." Maybe is she asked instead of demanding for a change, "But otousan?"  
  
"Yes Yuffie?"  
  
"I know you're trying to make Wutai into this great place for people to visit and that's fine I guess but..." She sat down on her knees and bowed before him, "Please promise me, that while I'm gone you'll try just as hard to make it a the great warrior city it once was as well."  
  
He looked at his daughter, surprised at the way she had asked him. The last time she mentioned the way he was "ruining Wuatai" she was scolding him like she was the parent. But this time she let some of her pride go and asked him. A large smile found itself slowly creeping over Lord Godo's face, His voice was soft, like a father's again, "My darling daughter you could not have made me any happier unless you told me you were getting married." Yuffie looked up at him in complete surprise. As soon as she did the loud Godo was back. "Get off the floor! Of course I'll do as you ask! At the very least I have to try, and that's all you ask right!?"  
  
***  
  
Cid watched as a few Wutaians carried several bags and boxes onto the Highwind. "What the fuck is all this shit?" He opened one box seein some weaponry, "Who brought the goddamn arsenal?"  
  
"Yuffie's moving back with us," Ralena said as she led Haretia and Thunder up the ramp towards the chocobo stable in the Highwind.  
  
"You asked her to?"  
  
Ralena nodded with a smile.  
  
"Shit woman, and I thought you were fuckin' crazy before." Ralena just shook her head and smiled. Cid turned to Vincent, "Well I'm sure you can't be all to happy about Yuffie comin' along." Cid was then taken abck at the sudden realization that Vincent was smiling. "What the hell is wrong with you people?"  
  
The dark man's smile spred into a grin, "We're getting married."  
  
"You an' Yuffie?"  
  
Vincent narrowed his eyes at the pilot, "That is quite possibly the dumbest thing you have ever said."  
  
"Fu~ck you gotta know I was kiddin'. When's the wedding?"  
  
"Either within a month or after nine," he answered and continued walking.  
  
The pilot stared after him, "Holy shit he is a real boy."  
  
Yuffie stopped next to him, holding Sephiroth by the hand, "I know, I couldn't believe it either."  
  
Sephiroth looked up at her, "Believe what Yuffie?"  
  
"You'll find out when you're older. And you can call oneechan if you want." Was all the ninja said.  
  
***  
  
The week they got home was a busy one, Ralena set up an appointment with her doctor, Yuffie saw to moving herself in and Vincent went to make sure everything was ready for Sephiroth to start school. "What is the child's name?" the woman at the desk asked.  
  
Vincent paused a moment to remember Leucretia's maiden name, "Lawson. Sephiroth Lawson."  
  
She typed this information in, not even looking at the intimidating man before her. "You his father?"  
  
"Guardian, both his parents are dead."  
  
"You take care of him alone?"  
  
"No we live with a frie-... my fiancee."  
  
She looked up at him beifly before she let a knowing smile touch her lips. "Your names please?" Vincent sighed, he hoped this wouldn't take too long.  
  
***  
  
Ralena sat beside Sephiroth watching his tiny fingers hit the keys of the piano in a slow and hesitant manner. He would hit small sections with accuracy in length and note before pausing and having trouble for a measure or two before doing well again. "You are doing very well Sephiroth." The boy nodded biting his lip and trying to concentrate on the notes and his playing. When he was done Ralena smiled down at him. "You did very well for not practicing our entire trip."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Uh-huh. Oh before I forget, Vincent and I are going to see the doctor tomorrow so Yuffie's going to watch you, I want you to behave fo her alright?"  
  
"Why wouldn't I?"  
  
Ralena smiled and shook her head. "I don't know. You can go play no if you want."  
  
"Yay!" He lept off the bench and ran into the ajoining room. Ralena smiled, she would have to tell him to stop running in the house one of these days. She stood and put a hand to her head and another on the piano as another dizzy spell hit her. 'God I hope this normal.' Then she felt it, pain in her stomach. She reached out with her feeling a confused panic coming from within her. 'Oh god please...' Was all she could think before she fell over.  
  
"'Lena?" Sephiroth asked curiously having heard a thud. The boy peaked into the room. "'Lena? You ok?" She didn't answer. It took his mind a moment to realize something was wrong then he ran to her prone form. "ONEECHAN!! YUFFIE!!"  
  
The ninja ran to screams of th frantic child. Expecting that he merely hurt himself and not the scene that lay before her as she entered the room. "Oh my god Sephiroth what happened!?"  
  
"'Lena won't get up!"  
  
Yuffie quickly checked her friend's pulse and breathing, "Well she's still alive. Sephiroth stay here, I'm going to call a doctor ok? I'll be right back."  
  
***  
  
*Ring* Vincent eyed his pocket before pulling out his cell. He identified the number as being the number to his house. "Excuse me a second... Hello?" The second he answered he tore the phone away from his ear. "Yuffie? Calm down what is it?... She what?!... I'll be right.. ok I'll meet you there." He hung up the phone and turned to the woman behind the desk. "I have to go, can we finish this another time?"  
  
"Actually that was the last question, I just need you and your fiancee to get this signed and notarized by next month." He took the paper, thanked the woman and hastily ran out the door.  
  
***  
  
Ralena had woken up about an hour later, fearful of what had happened. Vincent sat beside her hospital bed, "Is this normal Vincent? Am I suppossed to pass out like this? Am I.. am I supposed to feel pain now?"  
  
He took her hand, "I honestly do not know love, but we'll get throuh this ok?" She nodded.  
  
The hospital itself was not all that lage, a mere three stories in height it was more like a glorified clinic. It was much less busy than it had been after meteor struck, a good portion of the rooms now empty. They had been there overnight already and Ralena had some blood taken to be tested. As with most people in this situation Ralena was very stressed and her anxiety was running high. Not to mention the fact that she absolutely hated hospitals.  
  
Some time later they both looked up as the doctor came in, the wait had been excuciatingly long for the test results. She looked up at the woman hopefully. "Well the good news is you are pregnant."  
  
"Is there bad news?" Ralena asked.  
  
The doctor looked down at her paper, sighed in frustration and looked back up at the couple. "We're not sure. It seems like you have... some kind of virus. But we've never seen it before."  
  
"A virus?"  
  
"The baby is it-"  
  
"It's fine," the doctor said before Ralena's fears could escalate. "The womb is protected from viruses so the baby will be alright."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
The doctor smiled, "Yes I'm sure. Right now I'm more woried about you Miss Salvatore. Fortunately it doesn't look like it's contaigous."  
  
"What does this virus look like?" Ralena asked. Not that she knew anything about this kind of stuff, but she just had this weird feeling.  
  
The doctor pulled a piece of paper out of her folder and handed it to her. "We almost didn't notice it, but once we did, well. Like I said I've never seen this before."  
  
Ralena examained the shape that was circled in red pen. 'Why does this look so familiar?' she thought. She stared at it more then realization struck her 'Oh god no.' She handed the picture back to the woman carefully trying to control her emotions. "Thank you doctor, can we have a moment alone please?" As soon as the door closed she covered her face and let her tears go.  
  
"Ralena what is it?" Vincent asked now more worried than before.  
  
"The 'virus'," Ralena choked, "I recognized it."  
  
"What?"  
  
She turned to him eyes filled with crystal tears, "I saw it in files in Niblehiem Vincent... it's not a virus... It's JENOVA cells." Vincent did not know what to say but the horror painted in his eyes was enough. "It wants our baby Vincent! That's why it hurts, it's trying to get in!" He sat up beside her and she burrowed her head into his chest. "I'm so scared Vincent! What will happen to our baby? After all that's happened to us, been done to us and now this? Will it be normal?"  
  
He held her against him and could think of nothing to say. "I'll call Tifa and Cloud, ask them to dig up some of the files in the mansion."  
  
"But those files are decades old. There has to be more information on it somewhere."  
  
Vincent looked down at her, kissed the top of her head and rested his chin on her head again. "Hojo was based in Midgar, if we can find something there we will."  
  
"I'm going."  
  
"No."  
  
She pulled away enough to look at him. "Why not?"  
  
"Ralena you've been having dizzy spells and now this attack. What were to happen if we were fighting and then this happened? I want you to stay here."  
  
She sighed in defeat, she hated it when he made sense that meant she was wrong. "Well at least don't go alone. Take Yuffie... and Reno."  
  
"Reno?"  
  
"Yes, He knows more about how things were laid out down there. He could be a great help."  
  
Vincent thought a moment then decided to comprimise on this. If she wasn't going she wanted Reno to, and he could live with that for her. "Alright. Come on, the doctor said you could go home today," he grinned, "and I know how much you hate it here."  
  
***  
  
*ring*...*ring*...*rin-* "Hello?"  
  
"Hi Tifa how're you?"  
  
"Oh hey Ralena. I'm fine. What's up?"  
  
"Tell you the truth, bad stuff... Listen could you and cloud do me a favor?"  
  
Tifa's brow creased in concern, "Sure what do you need?"  
  
"Could you... could you go into the ShinRa Mansion and dig out anything you can find on JENOVA."  
  
"Uhh yeah sure... why?"  
  
There was a long pause then Ralena spoke again, her voice saturated with worry, "The cells in my body, they're active again...and, they're after my baby."  
  
'Baby?' Tifa gasped before asking happily, "You're pregnant?" As soon as she said it she winced. The reaction seemed so natural but the situation under which it occured made it not as joyous as it should have been.  
  
"Yeah," she responded, her voice both sad and happy. "We're gonna get married too... we just don't know when yet."  
  
"I'm happy for you Ralena. And don't worry, we'll look into that stuff for you."  
  
"Thanks alot Tifa. Look I gotta call Reno."  
  
"Alright bye." Tifa hung up the phone and her eyes and hand lingered on it a moment.  
  
"Hey Tifa who was that?"  
  
"Ralena, she wan't us to go into the ShinRa Mansion and get some of the JENOVA files."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The JENOVA cells in her body are after her baby." Cloud simply starred at her.  
  
***  
  
*Ring* "-grumble grumble-" *Ring* He reached for the snooze button on the clock *Ring!* "What the hell are people callin' me for? It's only noon." *RING!* "Yeah yeah I hear ya." *RIN-* "This better be fukin' good to wake me up before one...-yawn- Oh hey sis what's up?... You want me to what?... You're what!?... You have got to be bullshitting me...You're not...Why am I-...You mean... No fukin' way... It's really, you mean, Goddamit!... Well why shouldn't I be pissed!? I practically worked for that mother fucker and look what he did to my family! Look don't you worry. I'll be there A-sap and then I'll make sure I'm the uncle of a healthy kid... heh no prob sis, what are big brother's for?"  
  
-----------------------  
  
Otousan: Japanese for "Father"  
  
Wakata: Japanese fixed expression, basically "I understand"  
  
-neechan/oneechan: "big sister"  
  
Note on PHS/cell phone: I was looking at a Sailor Moon song translation and it turns out a PHS is a cell phone! Ain't that a kick in the butt? How were we supposed to know? I mean it's not like Cloud's PHS played a song, it just rang!  
  
Hika-chan: Hey guys! I can't believe it actually took me this long to make things difficult them. I mean the fifth chapter before anything goes wrong? That's gotta be a fukin' record for me. 0_0 oops I cursed! Musta been hanging around Cid too mu-  
  
Ralena: GET BACK HERE YOU SADISTIC LITTLE CHIBI!!  
  
("little chibi" is that redundant?)  
  
HC: *_* eep! Run away!  
  
Ralena: How can you do this to me!? Haven't I been through enough!  
  
HC: *running* oh shit! Look I remembered you're an empath.... I did it because I knew you're mood swings were gonna be murder!  
  
Ralena: I show you murder you little shit! *Swings*  
  
HC: *dodges* Temper, temper! *Ralena chases HC around the room* Damn talk about Mood swings!  
  
*A White haired elf walked up she pulls out a piece of paper then puts on a pair of glasses. She then remembers she doesn't need them and takes them off*  
  
Sellis: Hey I'm one of HC's assistant's/alter-egos. I Have here a prepared statment by Miss Hikaru in the event that characters were to chase her around for what she did to them in this chapter before she got the chance to explain -ahem- "As far as the reference of A Yuf/Vince relationship being dumb, I don't really believe that. I am very accepting in nearly all alternative couples, (I find them very interesting and entertaining) however I have yet to understand that one. I'm current;y searching for a completed Fic that will explain it better than the last one I read.  
  
As far as the japanese well... I figured I took it for three semesters I oughta use it somewhere. Now If you'll excuse me I'm going to get fitted for some kevlar-HC" 


	6. Return to Ruins

Vincent:...  
  
Hika-chan: Don't just stand there *pokes him* say it, I'm tired of doing it!  
  
Vincent: *eyes HC oddly* FF7, the others and I do not belong to that SD thing over there *points to HC. thinks: "thank god, who knows what she'd do to us then!"* We belong to no one unless you count our creators at Squaresoft. *pulls out gun* That reminds me I'm gonna have a chat with them about creating Hojo. Excuse me.  
  
HC: heheheh *sweatdrops* ^_^' anyway just a little warning Reno's got a real potty mouth this chapter!  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 6: Return to Ruins  
  
Vincent did not know why Elena had insisted on coming along, but in the end what could he do? Reno told him his fellow Turk said that if they came across any running computers or electronics she could help. Oh well another set of ears and eyes may come in handy with the situation they were going into. Midgar was more or less one giant junk heap. Some plant life ever so slowly growing towards and into it. The ground around it was like a scar burned deep black and hard from the constant draining of the planet's life there, though it had since ceased, the difference was barely visible. Beasts and monsters of all sorts had moved into the once great city. The native creatures of course were a given, but the disaster that was meteor drew in more creatures in it's aftermath. Scavengars came first, naturally, then there were small predators, those that ate the scavengars, then progressively larger and larger predators as time moved on.  
  
Midgar was not the same thriving megalopolis it once was. True, it housed the same number of lifeforms it once had if not more, but now it literally was a metal jungle. Creatures of all shapes and sizes and hungers lurked there. And none of them were likely to be friendly. No, Midgar was not what it used to be, it was much much worse.  
  
The two members of an all but disbanded AVALANCHE and two of the three remaining Turks had to climb onto and over a mound of rubble in order to climb onto the wall around the city. "So Reno, what exactly are we going to be looking for?" Yuffie asked.  
  
"We're going to see if there's anything left of the computers in ShinRa tower. If there's nothing useful we'll have to dig for the hard copies."  
  
"What are those?" the ninja asked, not all too familiar with computer terminology.  
  
"It's ShinRa policy to print copies, hard copies, of the most important files in case something goes wrong with the hard drive or the network," Elena answered. "And since Hojo thought *everything* he did was important he backed up all his files."  
  
"Ok then, there are those?"  
  
"That's the part that's gonna be a bitch," Reno commented, "They're in sub-level 15. Seein' as everything fell down, it's probably under all that." The red head jumped to the ground, "Not to mention how much of a pain in the ass it's just gonna be to carry all that shit out of here."  
  
Vincent stopped in his position at point, "I suggest that if you do not want to attract monsters, that you keep the talking to a minimum."  
  
Reno rolled his eyes before muttering. "Well la-dee-fricking-da who died and put him in charge?" After about two hours and several battles they made it to the base of what once was the great Shinra Tower. Reno whistled looking up at the massive structure. "Damn, I surprised this much of it is still intact. Between Diamond WEAPON and Meteor you'd think the thing would fall over already."  
  
"Well let's not curse our luck and check it out!" Yuffie said leading the way in. Her Conformer strapped to her back and a several shiruken in her hand she looked around the room through a large whole in the wall. "It's dark but it doesn't look like anything too big is living here." It was still daylight, but the inside of the room was nearly pitch black. She pulled a flashlight out and shined it into the dark room, only to be greeted by the sight of five sets of canine eyes. "Oh Shi-" Two jumped Yuffie before she could finish. She batted one of the wolf creatures away with a kick and the other's bite she blocked with the flashlight.  
  
Reno charged his weapon and promptly zapped the first one to approach him. "I though you said there wasn't anything in there!"  
  
"I said nothing big!" The ninja shouted back, punching her stalemate partner in the jaw. The wolf thing yelped as it fell back, giving her time to pull her Conformer out. "Eat it dog breath!"  
  
Another one jumped Vincent, a split second before contact Vincent threw his claw up into the beast's gut, but it's momentum forced both to the floor. While he was down another tried to take advantage of Vincent's prone position, but it only caught a bullet in the skull for it's troubles. Elena was dodging and climbing away from her attacker before pulling a small grenade. A grin touched her lips as she pulled the pin. "Catch this fido." Not long after the explosion several more of the green wolves appeared but within five minutes all were dead.  
  
Yuffie picked up her flashlight and shined it around in the room again. "All clear," she grinned.  
  
Reno stepped up to her maintaining eye contact, a scowl on his face, "You know for some reason I really wanna hurt you."  
  
Yuffie smiled sweetly at her friend's brother, "Now why would you wanna go and do a thing like that?"  
  
"I could name a few reasons." Vincent muttered as he walked past them, causually wiping his claw of his kill's blood.  
  
Both the Turk and the ninja shuddered, "Man even after all this time he's *still* creepy." The remainder of the party walked into the room, each pulling flashlights and searching the room.  
  
"Hmm it's the third floor," Elena mused, "I guess the first two are burried under all the rubble outside."  
  
"Is there a generator nearby?" Vincent asked.  
  
"Yeah should be in the rear," Reno answered, heading towards one end of the room. He pushed rubble and bones out of his path with his feet and nightstick. He muttered and cursed as he moved more and more of the litter that decorated the room. "Damn this place is disgusting."  
  
"Yeah," Elena muttered, "Reminds me of your place."  
  
"Ha ha, very fukin' funny Elle. Remind me to smack you when I'm done with Fluffy over there."  
  
"That's Yuffie!"  
  
"Whatever Huffy."  
  
Yuffie cast a glare in his direction before going back to look out duty. "Lousy stinking. -grumble grumble-"  
  
"Here we are," he declared opening up a concealed door in the back of the room. "Now let's just see if we can get this mo-fo up an' runnin'. Yo, one o' you commere and hold a light for me." They heard him tinkering with it and a few small curses before he kicked it. "Ow! Fuck!"  
  
"Maybe it needs a jump start." Yuffie mutter humorously.  
  
Reno grabbed his night stick, "I'll jump start yo-... Hey not a bad idea." He turned on his weapon again as electricity crackled through the air. He took a second to find the right spot before jamming the end of it into the generator. There was a lound popping noise and the grinding and starting up of an old engine. A few seconds later the remaining lights flickered to life.  
  
Vicent turned to the blonde Turk, "Elena can you access the computers from here?"  
  
She cracked her knuckles and went to what appeared to be the least damaged computer unit. "Sure thing, I can hack into anything!" She looked at the computer, "Can you get me that monitor over there?" Vincent complied and with a little rewiring of rat chewed wires she fixed the working monitor into the good computer. "Hmm let's see. Hopefully the hardware connection hasn't been destroyed, other wise I can't access Hojo's computers."  
  
Reno turned to her, "But this generator only powers the first through tenth floors, how can you access it if it's not on?"  
  
"That is one of the beauties of being on a network like this. I can probably access anything, including other generators from here, assuming all the wiring is still intact." After a few minutes Elena had a schematic of the building up. They heard flocks of birds and other such creatures flutter around outside, surprised by the lights turning on so suddenly. "Looks like over half the building is disconnected from power, not just the computer systems... and Hojo's lab is... there!... Ok we got power...and as far as the computers...Oh shit."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It looks like there was some kind of electrical disturbance."  
  
"What's that mean?"  
  
"Well the data's effectively been scrambled, I can save it onto a disk, but there's no garuntee that the information will be in any way deciferable. I won't know what the hell we got until I can decrypt it all."  
  
"Sooo... what're you saying?" Reno asked.  
  
She looked at him and gestured hopelessly at the computer, "I can copy the information, but we should probably pick up the hard copies just in case."  
  
"Fu~~ck!" Reno muttered.  
  
"Look at the bright side," Yuffie retorted, "At least we didn't have to climb all the way up there to find that out."  
  
Not one for wasting time Vinent spoke up, "How do we get down to the sublevels?"  
  
"The entrance is hidden , there's a stairwell and an elevator leading down from the fourth floor. O' course I wouldn't trust the elevator right about now."  
  
Yuffie was confused. "Why the fourth floor?"  
  
Reno grinned, "Well you would expect that it be on the first wouldn't you?"  
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
Reno looked at her though he just answered her question then turned to Elena. "How long is it gonna take to copy all that?"  
  
"Already started... looks like it's gonna take about five more minutes on this CD then I gotta get the rest on another one, so I'd say ten minutes tops."  
  
"Alright then, I guess we should keep an eye out while this is goin' on then... No tellin' if there're more of those wolf fucks out there."  
  
"Damn Reno you kiss your mother with that mouth?"  
  
Reno glared at Yuffie, "My mother's dead remember?" He said as though it was common knowledge.  
  
Yuffie resisted the urge to smack herself in the head. 'oops forgot he and Ralena are siblings, their parents are long gone.'  
  
Vincent remianed silent the entire time. Trying to map out the best course of action in his mind. But his attempts were constantly interrupted with thoughts of Ralena back home with Sephiroth. Would she be ok? Was she ok right now? What if she had another attack? Both her and Sephiroth were at the house alone. No... No, they were fine, Ralena was too stubborn to let something like this get to her, especially so early on. She was fine and so was Sephiroth, they had afterall only been left alone for only.... four hours? A lot could happen in four hours.  
  
"Done!" Elena said triumphantly, her loud cheer startling the silent Yuffie and Reno and jarring Vincent from his thoughts. The female Turk hit a few keys turning off the power on the upper levels.  
  
"Can you get the power in the sublevels on?"  
  
Elena shook her head. "No their on a completely different network. I'd have to get to the computers on SL-7 before I could."  
  
"Alright then let's go."  
  
***  
  
It was only a few minutes before they stepped into an elevator on the fourth floor. "I thought you said we should take the stairs in this emergency," Yuffie muttered.  
  
Reno cast her a quick glare, "Quiet smartass. I'm trying to remember the blasted code." He pushed three random floor buttons, pulled the emergency stop and then the "door open" button. They stood there a full minute and still nothing happened.  
  
"Maybe I should tr-" Elena began before getting cut off by their ninja companion.  
  
"I think you broke it."  
  
"Would you just shut the fuck up!" He turned to the panel, "And why the hell aren't you working you decrepted piece of shit!" Frustrated the Turk kicked the wall beneath the panel, and without anyother warning the wall opened up behind them, opposite the door. "Ah there we go!" Reno smiled his former rage all but forgotten, that is until he saw the pile of rubble blocking the door to the sublevel stairwell. Reno blinked. "SUNNOVABITCH!"  
  
Vincent held out a hand, as if to say "Don't worry I got this covered." He reached into a pouch on his belt and switched two materia. Chanting softly he cast a spell on the larger rocks. A brief glow came from his hand, that transferred over to the debris. For a moment it looked as though nothing happened then the pieces that had glowed lifted up from the ground. Without another word Vincent walked over, grabbed the floating debris with one hand and pushed it out of the way. Then he turned to the others. "Well?"  
  
"Oh yeah Vinny!" Yuffie whooped jumping to his side to help, "Way to use float!"  
  
Vincent tried to focus on removing the rubble instead on the horrid nickname Yuffie had called him by. Reno and Elena were soon beside him, now that the largest chunks of concrete had been removed it was easy digging. In less than five minutes they had enough room to open the door. Once again readying their flashlights the quartet went down into the darkness.  
  
***  
  
The generator was done, finished, kaput. He had been trying to repair the blasted thing for the last week. If he had not found more batteries for the flashlight he would not have been able to accomplish anything. But when it came down to it he simply did not know enough to repair the cursed machine. "I am f-u-c-t. Fucked," He muttered. A moment later he found himself laughing. When had he become so vulgar in speech? He used to be a very classy guys and her he was purposefully mispelling the f-word. "Well you've gone and done it know haven't you?" he said to himself. "You're either gonna starve or you're going go crazy and then die. See? Talkin' to yourself already, that's a baaaad sign."  
  
Ex-president Rufus Shinra reached over to his shotgun and looked at. Not much ammo left, of course it's not like he used it much. Nothing down here was big enough or dangerous enough to warrant using such a weapon on it. Of course there was one practical use left for it.  
  
***  
  
"Oh god WHAT is that smell?" Elena asked. They were currently on SL- 5, they had been searching each floor, futilly trying to remember where the generators were, checking nearly every room.  
  
"Death," was Vincent's reply. He opened a door and the same decaying smell he had named waifted out into the hall tenfold.  
  
Yuffie came up beside him, one hand over her mouth the other shining the flashlight into the room. "Kami-sama..." The ninja sood paralyzed a moment by the scene before her. Finally she managed to turn away, face drained of nearly all color before rushing into the last room she checked to vomit away from the others.  
  
Vincent walked into the room Reno not far behind him, "What the hell?" About the room, in various stages of decay were human bodies, crawling with rats and other vermin. Elena took one look into the room and turned around, not seeing as much as Yuffie so she was able to keep her lunch down.  
  
"My god," the little blonde breathed, "They.. they were all trapped down here?"  
  
"There must be fifty of them," Reno breathed, "how did they all die in here?"  
  
"They didn't. This is a tomb." Vincent replied. "The bodies were brought in here, the door was not blocked, they were not trapped in here." He reached over, moving a skeleton off a box before looking inside. "They even tried to have some semblance of burial in here early on." He closed the box and was now very grateful that he had convinced Ralena to stay in Kalm. Whatever the people down here went through the empath would have had a direct link to it. There was no telling how something like that would effect her sometimes fragile psyche. "Let us leave them in peace." He said heading towards the door. "Reno?"  
  
The Turk was crouched infront of a skeleton, it's skull slightly cracked. "We have to hurry." Vincent reiterated. Not saying a word Reno took hold of a small charm on a chain. The charm, a simple green gem cupped within a golden cage, the wires hugging against it's surface, had fallen between two of the skeleton's ribs. "Reno?" the dark man asked again. The Turk did not move.  
  
Elena peaked her head into the room again, examining her comrade. "What is it Reno?" By now Yuffie had recovered and was also near the door.  
  
His arms moved slightly removing the charm from the skeleton's neck. 'Grave robbing?' Vincent pondered, 'No he would not, there must be more.' Cupping the pendant dearly in his hand Reno's other hand lightly traced the cracks in the skull. "I... I told her," Reno whispered quietly, "I told her she was working to hard, that she should just take a break... She kept saying 'In a week.'... I finally got her down to 'tomorrow.' And she always meant tomorrow when she said it. Then diamond weapon came.. and I left... without her."  
  
'Oh no.' Elena thought, 'Evelynne'  
  
The solemn Turk kissed his finger tips and touched the center of the crack, the possible cause of her death. "See ya 'round Eveie." Reno stood and walked out past the others, his face somehow remaining in shadows the entire time. Yuffie offered a silent prayer for the poor souls down here as Vincent closed the door.  
  
***  
  
"Dammit!" Rufus all but threw the gun off to one side. "Why can I just do it!" he muttered angrily to himself. "Oh you know why.. why try an' deny it Ruf ol' boy. You survived this long, it's be damn pointless to have suffered as much as you have only to kill yourself now." He cast an evil glare at his gun, as though it was the gun's fault he was not dead right now. He shook his head and leaned back against the wall again. ".. fuck."  
  
***  
  
Nearly an hour later they were on SL-7 still searching for the cursed generator. Vincent had earlier mentioned that they probably had at least one more body to find. After all the last to die could not bring their own body to be with the others. "Is it in there?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"God can you imagine? Being the last one left?" Yuffie asked the morbid question that had been in her head since Vincent had mentioned the unfortunate person. "I mean, to be all alone down here? Knowing everyone else was gone... what a sad existence."  
  
"Quiet." Vincent said.  
  
Yuffie looked at him rudely, "Oh come on like you of all people is bothered by that subject."  
  
"No listen."  
  
They stood in silence until Elena turned back to the others, "Humming?"  
  
"You've GOT to be kidding me."  
  
***  
  
He sat there... in the dark.. alone... 'Lemme see what can I do to occupy my mind?'  
  
"... can you imagine? Being the last one left?"  
  
"Don't have to," he muttered.  
  
"I mean, to be all alone down here?"  
  
"No shit sherlock what else does 'being the last one' mean."  
  
"-ing everyone else was gone."  
  
"Oh goddammit I'm actually hearing things!" He put his hands over his ears and began humming. 'I'm not hearing things, I'm not hearing things. Talking to yourself is fine, but hearing shit is a whole other matter entirely.' The door opened and light pooled into the room and right into his eyes. "Ow Shit! Do you mind!?"  
  
"Sir?" A female voice asked.  
  
It took him a moment to register the light in his eyes. "Great, now I'm seeing things too! I shoulda just killed myself and got it over with."  
  
The light was lowered from his face and he could hear someone approaching him. "Is that you sir?"  
  
There was another light by the door, simply pointing toward the ground. Rufus stared at the tall figure and it's glowing red eyes that watched him. "Hey," he said, ignoring the petite female form before him, "You death?"  
  
Vincent raised a brow, "No."  
  
Another light entered the room, pointed in his general direction but still aimed low enough so as not to blind his slowly adjusting eyes. "Who is it Elena?"  
  
Elena hesiantly reached up, burshing some of her stray ragged locks out of his eyes. The man simply stared at her as she did. "I think it's Rufus."  
  
"You're shittin' me," The new male voice asked.  
  
Rufus looked in the direction of the newest silouette before him. "Reno?"  
  
"No. Fucking. WAY!" The red headed turk all but ran to the ragged man before him, staring at his now thin features. "Flip your hair."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Flip you're goddamn hair, then I'll know if it's really you." Rufus, to shocked to refuse did as the familiar voice bid him. "Holy shit man!" Reno hugged the man, the real physical contact dispelling any beliefs that this was an illusion. "I can't believe you're alive!"  
  
"So whose the last man standing?" Yuffie asked walking into the room.  
  
His eyes finally adjusted to the light Rufus looked up at the two figures by the door, able to make out their faces. He looked at the girl first, Wutaian, young, and the voice he had first heard before he started humming to himself. Then he looked to the tall man. Dark, tall, clad in red and black. "Wait a second.. you guys are from AVALANCHE!"  
  
"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down there cappin'" Reno said. "Things are a bit different now."  
  
He looked up to his long time friend, then to Elena. "How long have I been down here?"  
  
The blonde swallowed, "It's been uhhh, it's been one year and eight months since meteor and Sephiroth were destroyed."  
  
Rufus seemed to think about this for a total of two seconds before looking up at them again, "You got anything to eat?"  
  
"I got a candy bar," Yuffie said digging into her bag.  
  
Vincent cast a sideways glare at her, "I thought you packed real food."  
  
Yuffie grinned, "Oh yeah I got some sanwhiches too. Whaddya want?"  
  
"What kind of candy bar is it?"  
  
She grinned, "A Chewy Gooey Crunch Munch bar."  
  
"Gimme the candy bar."  
  
------------------------------------  
  
Kami-sama: Basically "God"  
  
Hika-chan: Man I never thought I could write this much this fast. I'm like putting out a chapter every two of three days! this one came out in one day!! and the sllooowww rate this story is going I might reach that epic length story I have never managed to make before (10 chapters has proved to be my max so far). I mean I don't even have a clear villan yet!!  
  
But I'm sad!! I've uploaded 5 chapters and I don't have a single review!! please R&R so I know poeple are reading!! I- huh? *looks over at Rufus*  
  
Rufus: *walks up eating a candy bar* hey-crunch- can I -munch- have another one of these?  
  
HC: *grins as she realizes she now has leverage* Sure thing babe. and we'll get you that haircut in a chapter or two.  
  
Rufus: *grabs candy bar* Yeah... thanks...seeya... *wanders off to go eat* 


	7. An Old Friend From SL-13

Hika-chan: *Shoves Reno forward* Your turn.  
  
Reno: What the fu- *looks out at the readers* Oh hey. Yeah most of the characters and shit... Don't belong to her so.. ya. Can I go now?  
  
HC: *sighs* Yes yes, you can go.  
  
Reno: *smacks her on the butt, she 'eeps!'* Hey thanks babe, see ya round  
  
HC: *rubs her butt* Oh yeah just to let you know it looks like the language is gonna be a bit strong for a while...  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 7: Old Friends From SL-13  
  
Reno began working on the generator when Rufus started on one of the sandwiches. The difference in him was amazing. He supposed being down here living in the dark would change someone, but he was most surprised at how laid back he seemed. In such hard conditions one would expect to be greeted by a hard man. But Rufus had always been a cold hard man, very few times did he ever reveal his nicer side, and only then it was with his closest friends. Even when he would flirt with girls there was always a kind of aura about him that seemed to say, "You know I'll only love you and leave you." Elena was talking to him now, while she messed with the scrambled data on her laptop, telling about the changes in the world and what was going on with the Turks.  
  
"You opened a bar?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"You. Opened. A bar."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"With Reno?"  
  
Elena shrugged, "You got a point there but hey, since he's out here right now we might actually be making a profit today!"  
  
Rufus chuckled a bit before taking another bite. His scraggly blonde hair was cut unevenly around his shoulders with most of it was tied back but a good portion of it fell over his face. His facial hair had also grown out, cut just as even as his hair. "God this is so good! I swear you DO NOT want to know what I've been eating."  
  
Yuffie shuddered at the thought. "How long have you been alone down here?"  
  
Rufus shrugged, "A week.. no a month...I think... I don't know. After a while everything just seems to run together, especially without a way to measure time. What are you guys doing down here anyway?"  
  
Reno wipped his face, smearing some oil on his cheek. "My sister had JENOVA cells put in her before Hojo was killed. They've been dormant since the Meteor incident, but now they're after her baby."  
  
Rufus looked at Reno confused, "Reno... you don't have a sister."  
  
"Yeah I do. Remember when I first came here? I said I wanted to join ShinRa so I could find her."  
  
Rufus gave the Turk a blank look. "I was only ten at the time."  
  
"Yeah I know, so was I. Of course I should have realized that was a really dumb plan even then."  
  
Rufus took another bite and by the time he swallowed he thought of something else. "Wait a second, if she's having a baby...Hey Reno who's the father, he's gotta be a real dick if he's not helping you out on this."  
  
"I am helping." Vincent said in his tradmark monotonous voice from his place by the door. He had not moved from that spot since he entered the room. Keeping an eye out the hall, a silent sentinel.  
  
Rufus looked over at the man, having almost completely forgotten him due to his silence. "Oh..."  
  
"..."  
  
"... never mind then, have I seen her before?"  
  
Reno thought a moment, "She was captured for a short time.. but I dunno."  
  
"Yes." Both men turned to the man who once again broke his policy of silence.  
  
"When?"  
  
"I was injured at the time but I believe you're exact words were 'Miss you do realize it is a crime to steal a vehicle in order to use it to hit a ShinRa executive don't you?'"  
  
Rufus stared blankly at the man before he was hit by a small fit of laughter. Elena eyed him oddly, "What?"  
  
He calmed down enough to speak, "Oh my..." he laughed, "You're sister's the one who hit Palmer with a truck!"  
  
Reno stopped and looked off distantly in shock. "Holy shit. I mean I knew Ral was tough but... damn."  
  
Yuffie who was sitting off on the side was getting rather bored, "Reno you done with that damn thing yet? I wanna get the hell outta here as soon as possible."  
  
Reno glared at her, "Quit yer bitchin' I'm on it." A few revs and a jumpstart with his nightstick and the generator was running. "And then there was light! Damn I'm good."  
  
Everyone blinked at the brightness and Reno, for the first time any present could remember (except for Rufus) Reno put his goggles over his eyes. "Alrighty let's see about that info. Elena."  
  
She stood, "Sure thing."  
  
***  
  
As they walked down the now lit halls and stairwell, Yuffie noticed something she found odd. "Why isn't everything down here all messed up? I mean aside from all the dust everything seems to be fine."  
  
"A bunch of us were down here as refuge from meteor. Unfortunately none of us suspected that the doorway would have been blocked. The only good thing about that is that it kept out the creatures that you said are out there."  
  
"I see." They passed a door to another floor that was barred on their side. The door was thicker than the others had been and had a kind of electronic lock. "Hey what's-"  
  
"Don't touch that!"  
  
"eh?"  
  
The others looked at Rufus. "Suffice to say Hojo kept some his little friends down here as well." The young ninja pulled her hand back as though to touch the bar meant death. "Come on, let's just get what you need and get the hell out of here."  
  
***  
  
"I think I found it." Elena called, opening one of the many large filing cabinets. "-ungh- Damn this is heavy." She ran her fingers over several of the file tabs. "'JENOVA cells, plant life reaction to; animal reaction to; Human reaction to injection of; Human reaction to injury from JENOVA mutant... Damn how much of this crap does he have?"  
  
"Hojo had been researching JENOVA for a good thirty years," Vincent answered plainly, "I'm sure there is quite alot."  
  
Elena flipped through some more files before catching sight of something. "Oh thank god!"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Looks like he backed up his files on CD too, at least we don't have to carry all these papers back?"  
  
"Are you sure it's the same stuff?" Reno asked.  
  
Elena pulled her laptop out again and inserted the CD. After a few seconds she grinned happily. "Face it tiger, we just hit the jackpot."  
  
"What?"  
  
Elena blushed, "Sorry, read a few old Spiderman comics before we got here."  
  
Yuffie shook her head, "And I thought Vincent was weird."  
  
"ANYway, let's just grab these CDs and get outta here."  
  
***  
  
They were on their way back up the stairs when Rufus suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?"  
  
Rufus stared at the door, then checked the floor number on the sign. "The.. the bar, it's gone."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
His eyes went down to the floor. The beam that had held the door shut lay in two pieces. Vincent eyed the door and beam as well. "It's been melted," he noticed, the door showing some warping on it as well.  
  
Rufus turned to the tall man. "You got any ammo suitable for a double barrled sawed off shotgun?"  
  
Vincent reached into his cape checking where he kept his bullets. "Hmm looks like I missed two," he said, tossing it him.  
  
Rufus grinned, "Guess I better make every shot count."  
  
Catching sight of Vincent checking his ammo Yuffie decided it was best to draw her weapon at the ready. Reno turned to the blonde Turk. "Elena, you got the disks so I want you to hang back and be support with spells. That and I don't want any of your explosives to accidently get us stuck in here."  
  
"Right," she nodded.  
  
"Alright everyone keep your guard up, knowing Hojo's pets... this could be anything."  
  
Quietly they continued their trek up the stairs, careful to check any open doors they passed. Reno took point, with Yuffie and Rufus not far behind, then came Elena and last was Vincent guarding their backs. Everyone stretched their senses to an unbearable limit, every breath, footstep, and flickering bulb sounding far louder than was necessary. Reno stopped before the door to SL-5. He glanced into the hall, the flickering lights and moving shadows not doing the best for his imagination.  
  
Nervous and scared Yuffie was about to ask why she had stopped when they all heard some kind of crash. Gripping her Conformer tightly she looked back at Rufus who only seemed to want to get this over with. There was another one of the odd clashing noises and Rufus was able to recognize as bone on bone. "The crypt," he whispered, it was barely more than a breath but all heard and understood. Reno looked back at him a question and anger in his eyes. the question was obvious, "Should we fight it or trap it here and leave?"  
  
Before an answer could be brought forth a loud screach tore through their heads. All their hands went to their ears in pain. All but Rufus, whose eyes were wide as he seemed to recognize the sound. He quickly reched for the door and tried to shut it as quietly and quickly as possible. "Run." They all charged up the stairs, Rufus now in the back. He heard the distinct sound of a door being ripped off it's hinges. "MOVE!"  
  
Reno stopped on one of the landings, letting the girls pass before him. "Elena you better make sure you keep those disks safe," He panted, "I wanna be an uncle dammit."  
  
The girl pulled out a grenade and gestured with it to Reno, "Want me to drop this?"  
  
"Go for it."  
  
She pulled the pin and took a split second to drop it over the rail. "8 ..7.. 6..." she panted, "...1" the explosion was accompanied with a similar shreik from before but none of them stopped. They reached the elevator and Vincent and Rufus easily forced the doors opened. They weren't five feet into the room before the creature burst out the floor of the elevator they had just occupied.  
  
Yuffie fell back on the ground, still on the otherside of the elevator. She looked up at the creature before her in horror. Its tail swung through the air behind it like a whip. It had four arms, the top larger two like those of a preying mantis, serrated blades glowing red. The other two were some cross between human and reptile, but shorter than a man's, three scaled and clawed fingers on the end of each. It had eyes like an eagle's, shining like liquid gold. Its mouth had a few scraps of cloth hanging from its spider-like mandibles. She didn't even register Reno stepping infront of her.  
  
On the other side Elena was slowly stepping back as the creature turned in their direction. "Elena find cover!" Vincent commanded. Somehow the woman understood and obeyed. Then Vincent, ever the calm one, turned to the open mouthed ex-president. "What is it?"  
  
'ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit' had been Rufus' train of thought until Vincent spoke up. "It's the Reaper."  
  
***  
  
The man boarded the boat to Bone Village. He couldn't believe it, he had never thought he could find such a thing so close and so easily. Now he could show them all, even his late mentor, that he was no screw up. He would show them all now. "I'll show you what this worthless assisstant can do now Hojo," he muttered, tightly holding the small vial in his grasp.  
  
Back at the hospital in Kalm one of the doctors looked in one of the storage containers somewhat confused. "Where's the blood sample from Ralena Salvatore?"  
  
----------------------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: Main problem with quick updates? TYPOS!! ARRRGH!! *Runs around with a mallet trying to squish the little typo demons.*  
  
Cid: *sneaks up behind HC* FUCK!  
  
HC: *jumps in the air startled* What? What's wrong?"  
  
Cid: *grins* no one said it this chapter, I thought it could use a little more color.  
  
HC: *dead pan glare* What the hell is wrong with you?  
  
Cid: *Grins*  
  
HC: Anyway R&R please!!  
  
----------------------------------------  
  
AN: "Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot." Is the first thing Mary Jane says to Peter Parker when she meets him for the first time in the original comic. 


	8. The Reaper

Aeris: What am I doing here?  
  
Hika-chan: The disclaimer.  
  
Aeris: *blink blink*.... But I'm not even in this story...  
  
HC: *doesn't seem to get the point* so?  
  
Aeris: *sighs* Final Fantasy VII and all characters therin don't belong to Hika-chan over there.  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 8: The Reaper  
  
The creature swung down at both Vincent and Rufus who scattered, narrowly dodging the deadly blade. "Its blades are heated!" Rufus warned as he took a shot at the creature.  
  
"We have to lure it out!" Vincent shouted back, "Reno and Yuffie are still in the corridor!"  
  
Elena chanted quickly, "Chigali Pandemos, Come upon us great guardian and sheild us with your light, Barrier!" the magical shields formed before her and the two gunmen as Rufus scrambled to dodge another strike. Realizing Rufus probably could not keep this up too long Vincent shot the reaper. The first shot hit it in it's ribs and the other bounced off one of its metal forearms. But at the least the monster turned to the man, giving his ragged comrade a chance to catch his breath.  
  
On the other side Yuffie began casting her own spell, "Irisia mercurious, Of winged feet and speed of light, grant us a small amount of your power, accelera." A red glow encompassed the ninja and turk, speeding up their reflexes and perceptions.  
  
About this time Reno realized how bad this fight would be for him. 'Fuck,' he thought, 'I'm the only one without a range weapon. This is going to suck!' He watched the creature's movements as it followed after vincent who shot it, trying to pull it towards the front of the building. Then he noticed Elena casting again  
  
"Yuki forzenta freezia, Lady of snow, maiden of the north, guardian of the winter's secrets and its children. I bid thee aide us in our battle. I summon thee SHIVA!"  
  
"Yuffie now!" The two ran out on either side of the creature as the ice spirit cast snow and ice upon it. With it slightly phased out of their reality and under assault they could run pass it without fear of its attacks. Yuffie skidded to a stop when she felt the summon's presence fading. Throwing her Conformer at the reaper. It swung around slicing into the creature's back before returing to her. It almost turned in her direction when Reno jumped into it's blind side ramming his electric staff into its side. It let out another shriek and violently turned in the direction of the rapidly retreating Turk.  
  
Vincent, now directly out of the line of fire began casting as well, "Huraja raido, from badamoor I call forth the living energy. From the sky and the earth strike down the enemy before me, Teijin!" The monster once again cut off it's attack its screaching voice either drawing or scaring off nearby monsters. It spun once again to face Vincent, but on its way around, the reaper's tail, seemingly of its own accord whipped around Yuffie's ankle and swung her around behind it.  
  
The ninja girl slammed into the ground, knocked breathless by the impact. As the creature began moving forward it dragged the temporarily helpless girl across the rough ground behind it. Seeing this Rufus decided to see if he could slow the creature, giving her time to recover. Firing upon the beast seemed to do that quite well. Her conformer still in her hands Yuffie brought her arm up and sliced the tip of the tail off. Screeching once again the beast swung at Rufus before swinging on Yuffie. 'Man this thing is dumb!' Yuffie thought, somersaulting back away from it, 'It keeps going to attack the last thing that hit it.'  
  
Reno jumped in again as Yuffie once again threw her weapon, slicing one of it's smaller arms before being deflected by one of it's blades. Yuffie cursed as her weapon fell to the ground, far too close to the creature for comfort. Reno thrust his weapon into the base of the creature's spine only to have it's tail wrap around his waist and fling him into a wall, where he landed not too far from Elena. She looked up seeing the reaper cross its blades infront of itself, the red glow of the blades increasing. Frantically she began casting praying to finish before the monters "Ge hecaton junovo, come forth and guard us against the light and force of those who would attack us. Force shield!" The magic barrier went up infront of her and Reno less than a split second before the flame hit it. A few licks of flame even made it through to scorched her clothes. The young Turk kept pouring energy into the barrier as the flame was not going down. She could feel the heat boring down on her skin, like she was far to close to the sun.  
  
Seeing the Turks in jeopardy both Vincent and Rufus unloaded on the creature. It turned its head spread the fire across the room hitting both Rufus and Vincent. However the ex-Turk was far from finished. A quick reload and Vincent shot the reaper again and again. It slammed on of it's blades into the ground and a trail of fire ran straight into Vincent, knocking the man from his feet.  
  
His sense returned Reno stood and cast several cure spells, starting with Vincent and Rufus, who had taken the full brunt of the fire attack. Yuffie at the same time decided a little more offensive was neccessary. "I'll show you a reaper. Dis Plutoss, I call thee forth from your land, come from below and show my foes the price to be paid. Show them the pain of Tartarus. I summon you Hades!" As she bid Hades came forth chanting foreign words over his black cauldron.  
  
The damage was done but when Hades left the beast continued his pace towards the now recovering Vincent. It grabbed him with its clawed hands, lifting him from the ground, the claws digging into his upper arms. He winced in pain, pulling his left forearm back as far as he could before jamming all five of the points of his claw into the creature. Seemingly blind to the pain the reaper only brought its heated blades to Vincent's back. His head arched back in pain as he cried out.  
  
Not knowing what else to do Yuffie ran forward, scooping up her conformer and slashing the beast across the back, once again she met with the tail, thrown off as Reno spun his nightstick a large ball of electricity forming before he flung it at the creature.  
  
Aside from reactions from it's tail the reaper's sole attention was on the man in its hands. Bending forward it bit into Vincent's shoulder. The whole of his eyes went white, then glowed red. A low growl emmitted from the man's throat and his skin began to darken as two black wings flung out from his back, forcing away the reaper's burning blades.  
  
"Oh shit," Yuffie cursed, "Everyone back off!" Elena caught the hint, she had never seen Vincent's limit before but she had heard of it from Reno.  
  
Rufus turned to her confused, not having any clue what was going on. "What?"  
  
Yuffie ran towards the blonde and pulled him behind a section of fallen wall. "Look Vincent's going into his limit break," she whispered hoarsly, "He transforms into a monster and goes beserk any questions?"  
  
"He what?"  
  
She didn't really think he would ask any. "Watch."  
  
Vincent's clothes seemed to fade away as the tail grew forth and his mass grew. His face contorted and with a final roar Chaos was in the arms of the reaper. Chaos grinned, his left hand already in the reaper's torso, he bent his claws fingers in then ripped out a large portion of monster's gut. Then Chaos through its arms out ripping the reaper's claws from his arms, before slashing down the reaper's chest with his right hand. The reaper fell back down onto the ground looking up it saw Chaos coming down on it from above. Slashing with it's right blade it rolled out of the way, cutting into Chaos' arm.  
  
The ground under Chaos cracked and buckled as it landed then charged toward the reaper. Slamming his opponent into the wall. Chaos wrapped his hands around the reapers neck. Pushing off the wall the reaper threw the both of them off the wall and slammed Chaos into the ground. The floor broke under them and the two creatures fell through to the floor below. The reaper, now on top, pressed the blunt side of it's blades into Chaos' chest, slowly burning throught the hell beast's skin. His hands still around its neck Chaos brought one hand back a ball of energy forming in it's palm.  
  
Seeing the ball, the reaper tried to pull back but Chaos dug his claws into its neck. A sadistic grin spead across Chaos' face at the fear in the reaper's eyes. When the energy ball could hardly fit in his palm Chaos pressed it into the reaper's face and the beam shot out through it's head. One floor above the other's covered their heads as the beam shot through the ceiling raining rubble down upon them.  
  
The reaper's body went limp and Chaos through it off to the side. A triumphant roar escaping from his throat. "Is everyone ok?" Chaos looked up at the voice, he grinned, more prey.  
  
"oowww..." Elena whined rubbing her head, "I'm ok."  
  
Reno stood and brushed himself off, "Are the disks ok?" Elena checked her case quickly and nodded to him. "Good. How about you two?" he called across the room.  
  
"We're-" Yuffie stopped when Chaos jumped into the room. He looked around as if trying to pick an appetizer from the menu. "Hey Vinny?" It turned toward her, "Uhh... Vince? Vincent?" Chaos stalked toward her, slowly, diliberately. "Hey it's me Yuffie remember? You're new nanny kinda person? Uhh come on out now, ya know we gotta get back to Kalm." He reached towards her. "You remember right? Ralena and the baby?"  
  
Chaos stopped, frozen in its tracks. "Yeah," Reno spoke up, unlike Yuffie he did not sound afriad. "And you can't expect to marry my sister lookin' like that!"  
  
Reason suddenly found its way into Chaos' eyes. Bloodied hands went to it's head, grasping it in pain. The loud pained roar slowly changed into Vincent's voice as the body shrunk back down to human size. Back in conrtol Vincent fell to his hands and knees breathing hard.  
  
Reno and Yuffie walked up to him, the other two were far more reluctant to approach. The young ninja knelt down infront of him. "Hey you ok there Vince?"  
  
"Yuffie."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Don't call me 'Vince.'"  
  
"Sure whatever you say Vinny."  
  
"..."  
  
***  
  
Rufus winced when they left the building. It was late in the afternoon, and though the electric lights had been on it was nothing compared to how the sun glared down at them. "Was it always that bright?"  
  
"eh?" Yuffie turned back at him then looked up to the sky, "Yep 'fraid so." Yuffie looked back at him as he blinked, one hand sheilding his eyes protectively. 'He's so pale..' she thought. Indeed he looked like some form of walking dead, in the sunlight. The lightness of his skin reflecting nearly all the light that hit it. Dark circles were under his eyes and his wild hair and tattered rags made him seem like little more than a ghost. "Com'on let's go Casper."  
  
"What did you call me?" He gave the ninja a queer look before she giggled and continued on. A few minutes later his eyes adjusted better and he could not help the many things he took for granted before. Even the stale wind that blew over the city was like heaven on his skin. When they reached the reached the end of the city and he finally looked over the wall he was all but frozen.  
  
Spread out before him was nothing but an endless field of green grass, and far off in the distance some mountains. He just stared at everything as the others climbed down off the wall. The grass, the sky, the mountains and the clouds. He could not help but notice the difference in how fresh the air was compared to that from within the city. He jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. He turned seeing Vincent, he had been keeping the dark man in front of him since the incident within ShinRa Tower, but now that was all but washed from his mind at the scene before him. The corner of Vincent's mouth turned upward ever so slightly not quite qualifying as a smile. "Everything seems much better doesn't it?" he asked.  
  
Rufus simply turned back to the scenery and nodded. "Not just that... it's all... new."  
  
"It does seem like that way I'm sure..."  
  
"Hey! Come on you two!" Reno called, "Let's get in the goddamn car, the faster we get back the faster we can eat I'm fuckin' starving!"  
  
***  
  
Ralena sat at the table flipping idly through some cook book she had gotten from a woman whose child they had taken care of after meteor. She listened as Sephiroth playfully pounded on the keys of the piano, not really playing anything but still managing a bearable tune. She was really getting worried now. It had been almost eight hours and still no word. *ring* She got up and eagerly answered the phone, "Hello?"  
  
"Hello Miss Salvatore?"  
  
Ralena sighed inwardly at her dissapointment, "Yes."  
  
"This is nurse Grey at the hospital, it seems we've misplaced your blood sample, I was wondering if you could come back in tomorrow so we could get another sample."  
  
"Uh yeah, sure ok."  
  
"Is 10 a.m. good for you?"  
  
"Yes that's fine."  
  
"Alright, we'll see you then. Goodbye."  
  
"Bye." Ralena sighed as she hung up the phone. 'hmm how odd, oh well.' Before she even reached the table the phone rang again. "Hello?"  
  
"Yo sis what's up?"  
  
"Reno! oh thank god I was starting to worry!"  
  
"Worry 'bout us? Aww you know we can take care of ourselves. Listen we'll be back in about two hours.. sooner if someone let's me drive." In the background Ralena could here a several shouts of protest. "Alright geeze, bunch o' wusses these girls are. I mean you almost hit one rabbit and they never let you drive again."  
  
"Yeah," she heard Elena mutter sarcastically, "Just a rabbit... and a chocobo, and a wolf AND a FRIGGIN TREE!"  
  
"Oh come on I missed that by a good two feet. Anyway, we got a survivor so you better have a lot of food when we get back, he ate half our lunches, so we're all hungry."  
  
"A survivor?"  
  
"Yeah, hey hold on... what?... hey you wanna talk to her you call her on your phone dammit!.. hee hee just kidding man lighten up. Yo here's Vinny for ya."  
  
She laughed inwardly as she could almost here Vincent say "..." but soon his voice came over the phone. "Ralena?"  
  
"Hey you."  
  
"How are you feeling?" Ralena giggled as she heard a small chorus of "awwws" from the background.  
  
"I'm good, no real dizzy spells today, I've been taking it easy. How did the mission turn out?"  
  
"We picked up allot of disks, but Elena says it's going to take a while to go through all the information."  
  
"And our survivor?"  
  
"He-" Vincent was cut off as she could almost hear a small battle occur over the phone. "He will need some clothes, some of mine will do for now." Vincent paused a moment to glare at Reno.  
  
"I need to shave too," she heard a vaugely familiar voice say in the background.  
  
Seemingly at the end of his patience Vincent decided to cut the phone call short. "We'll be there soon, hopefully I will not have killed your brother by the time we get back."  
  
Ralena laughed, "Alright see you then. Bye."  
  
***  
  
Back in the car outside Midgar Rufus could not help but marvel at the casual human contact going on. It was so refreshing to once again see people talking and chatting so casually. Even Vincent who had not seemed very human to him at all had made a joke, at least he assumed the part about killing Reno *was* a joke. It had been very nice to no longer be in a survival situation now that they were finally out of Midgar.  
  
"So what do you we'll be eatin' when we get back?" Yuffie asked beside him. She was in the back between himself and Reno. Rufus himself was on the passengar side behind Vincent.  
  
"I bet sis is gonna try an' think of something to cook for a whole ten minutes before she gives up and orders out."  
  
"You wanna take a bet on that?" Yuffie asked wryly.  
  
"You don't think she will?"  
  
"I'm gonna say she decides to order out in five minutes."  
  
"Less than that," Elena said from her position in the driver's seat.  
  
"Alright, you're both on," Reno said, "20 gil each."  
  
Vincent was looking out the window and muttered, "I say Sephiroth comes up with the idea first."  
  
Rufus nearly jumped at the name. "You are so on my man!" Reno said.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Who what?" Reno asked.  
  
"Who did he say would come up with the idea first?"  
  
Reno looked up at Vincent, then Yuffie then back at Rufus. "Oh shit I almost forgot about that. Well since we got some time uhh... who wants to tell him about all this?" In the end it was up to Yuffie and Reno to tell the tale, with occosional corrections from Vincent.  
  
"Soo.. he's... a kid?"  
  
"Yeah. You're not gonna believe it when you see it either. I mean even though he's a kid, it is so wierd to see Sephiroth scared."  
  
"But.. it's Sephiroth..."  
  
Since the story had begun Vincent had put the sun visor down, watching Rufu's reactions through the mirror on it. "Rufus."  
  
The ragged man looked up at the red eyes in the reflection. "Yeah?"  
  
"Just so you understand, if you ever hurt the boy..." he let his threat hang in the air then flipped up the visor.  
  
"We're here." Elena declared a few minutes later. Rufus looked out the window at the city of Kalm before him, bathed in the red glow of the late setting sun. Once again he was completely and totally amazed at the sight before him. As they drove through the roads it was nothing like the town he had once known. It was much larger, and while there were many roads and buildings there seemed to also be many trees and plants placed strategically around and between them. When it looked as though they were about to drive out of town Elena finally stopped at one of the last houses. "Ahh... home sweet," Elena stopped, "well it's not my home so nevermind."  
  
Reno jumped out of the car before Elena had fully stopped, "FOOD!" he cheered and ran up the walk way.  
  
Slightly more composed, but still anxious Yuffie was next, "You better not eat it all!"  
  
Elena simply shook her head and walked up after them. Rufus stopped and stared at the house, Vincent took a few steps forward then stopped. He turned back and gestured to Rufus that it was alright to follow. Rufus nodded and followed the him up the walkway. "Vincent Vincent Vincent!" He heard a boy yell as he ran towards him at the door. But the white haired boy stopped when he saw the ghostly man behind him. Sephiroth skidded to a stop then ran behind Ralena, peaking out from behind her.  
  
"Sephiroth!" the red head seemed quite surprised, "What's wrong?"  
  
"'Lena is that a ghost?" Rufus simply stared at the scared child, completely dumbfounded.  
  
She knelt down beside him, "No, that's just a man who has been through a very rough time." She looked up at him, then back to the boy. "I'm sure you won't find him so scary once he's cleaned up."  
  
"What's for dinner?" Vincent asked casually, picking up the boy.  
  
"PIZZA!" Sephiroth shouted triumphantly, his fear of the ghost man forgotten.  
  
"I wasn't sure if I could cook enough food so I asked Sephiroth and well..." she shrugged, "Pizza." Suddenly she heard a curse from the kitchen. "What are you whining about Reno? I got your favorite, ham and pineapple right?"  
  
"Not that, I lost the goddamn bet!"  
  
"Oh quit it," Elena said, "You're not the only one."  
  
Ralena turned a questioning eye to Vincent, "What bet?" She was answered with a grin then he walked into the kitchen. Ralena shrugged content to be left out of this one. Rufus felt very out of place, he looked down at his rags and he was very sure that he probably smelled bad. But on the other hand he was really hungry. "Would you like to eat or shower first?"  
  
"huh?" he looked up at the red head before him. "Well I'm hungry but..."  
  
She waved a hand at him, "Oh don't worry about it, I'm sure they can put up with it... Do I know you?"  
  
"Kinda, we met once after you hit Palmer with a truck."  
  
"Oh god." She moaned, at first Rufus thought she was upset that he had been the one to arrest her. "Is that how everyone is going to remember me? 'the chick who hit Palmer with a truck?' What the hell?"  
  
Rufus just stared at her then laughed. "Sorry I.. I didn't mean it like that. I'm the one who arrested you. I'm Rufus Shinra."  
  
She squinted her eyes and looked at him closer, then she backed up with a smile, "Oh. well... ok then. Go on and chow down."  
  
Rufus let out a sigh of relief and headed into the kitchen. "I swear Reno if you don't leave me some of that ham and pineapple I'm gonna fire you."  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: Wow I started writing in the spells again! I haven't done that since.. since.... the first chapter of Empathy!! Holy crap! :) Was it ok? I don't think I'm very good with battle scenes but I dunno... you guys have to tell me! review reveiw reveiw! :)  
  
Rufus/Reno/Yuffie/Seph: PIZZA! *runs HC over*  
  
HC: *cough cough hack cough* Oh yeah, more fun bad guy stuff next chapter I promise... Wait a sec did they say pizza? *runs off after them* Save some for me!! 


	9. Shave and a Haircut (Two Bits)

Cloud: *shoved out onto the stage, looks around at the readers blankly. Looks off stage* What the hell am I doing here?  
  
Hika-chan: The disclaimer  
  
Cloud: Why?  
  
HC: 'Cause I told you too  
  
Cloud: Got a better reason?  
  
HC: If you don't I'll write you in a yaoi fic  
  
Cloud: You don't have the stomach for it.  
  
HC: *casually*You're right, but I have no problems pairing you up with Yuffie.  
  
Cloud: *snaps attention to readers* Final Fantasy VII characters, locations, etc are sole Property of Squaresoft and in no way belong to Hika- chan.  
  
HC: *grins*Good boy  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
Beautiful Nightmare  
  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
  
Chapter 9: Shave and a Haircut (Two Bits)  
  
After dinner Rufus was directed to a bathroom by Ralena, a small collection of items in his hands. A towel, a wash cloth, a clean set of clothes, a razor and shaving gel, and a toothbrush. He stood there and put the things down before remembering to turn the light on. He blinked and winced slightly, still trying to adjust to being in such bright light so often.  
  
He looked up then and stared at his reflection. He had suspected that he looked awful but not this bad. Dark circles under his eyes from days of little or no sleep. His hair didn't even look blonde anymore, it was more like a sandy brown, and the beard. Oh god the beard, he had always hated facial hair, and it looked just as nasty as the rest of him. Smudges of dirt and oil were all over him as well. No wonder Sephiroth was frightened.  
  
Rufus blinked at the thought, Sephiroth scared of him... Hell Sephiroth as a child! For some reason Rufus had always pictured Sephiroth having come out of some sort of factory, as though he had been some machine all along. He shook the thoughts away and no longer able to stand staring at his haggard appearance he started the shower.  
  
***  
  
Elena, Yuffie, and Ralena were all sitting in the living room chatting about this and that. Elena was very happy for the opportunity to talk to other women for a change, while Ralena just seemed happy for the company. "You mean you and Rude?" Yuffie asked.  
  
Elena blushed, "Yeah, well not anymore... It was a little while after the whole meteor thing, while Reno was still staying here. We gave it a shot, Reno was actually quite surprised when he found out. But then it just got... weird."  
  
"Weird?" Ralena asked.  
  
"I dunno, I think it was the whole seeing each other, working together thing... or maybe we just didn't mesh."  
  
"Meshing is good," Yuffie responded.  
  
"What about you?"  
  
Yuffie coughed up some of her drink, "Me?"  
  
Elena tried not to laugh, before asking slyly. "Yeah I mean you're a big girl, you find any boys you like yet?"  
  
The ninja blushed violently, "Well when I first met him I thought Cloud was really hot."  
  
"You liked CLOUD!?" Ralena asked on the verge of laughter. She looked up towards the kitchen seeing Reno head in their direction as if to ask something.  
  
"I know, I know. I can't believe it either, I mean the whole spikey hair thing? Puh-leaze! SO over it."  
  
"Well that's nice to know."  
  
After hearing what they were talking about Reno turned around and headed back to the kitchen. "Don't go in there Vince, they're talking girl talk."  
  
Back in the living room Yuffie was still under interrogation. "Well? You see any other yummy treats back in Wutai while you were there?"  
  
"Elena!"  
  
The female Turk grinned, "What?"  
  
"Excuse me ladies." They looked up to see Rufus, a towel over his head as he was drying his hair. He was wearing a white button down shirt and a pair of black jeans. He pulled the towel back and flipped his hair back with a hand. "Ralena right?" The hostess nodded, "Yeah I just wanted to see where I was sleeping tonight." The three women who were all lounged out on the couch and recliner were staring at him. "...What?"  
  
Ralena cleared her throat and stood. "You uhh.. you clean up real nice." Rufus' face seemed to gain a more confused expression. "Ehhh nevermind follow me." Rufus followed the empath out of the room after giving one last questioning look back at the girls.  
  
Once he was out of sight Elena and Yuffie slowly turned to each other. The ninja was the first to speak. "Was his hair always that blonde?"  
  
***  
  
"You can stay in this room, for now. Reno's next door and that's the bathroom over there as I'm sure you remember."  
  
"Thanks. Hey Ralena?"  
  
"Who's that Wutaian girl?"  
  
"You mean Yuffie? She was with AVALACHE."  
  
Rufus seemed confused by this, "Isn't she a little young to have been saving the world?"  
  
Ralena shrugged, "She was sixteen at the time, but given the right circumstances people can grow up pretty fast."  
  
The blonde stared at her blankly. "She's as mature as Reno," he said as though trying to make a point.  
  
The empath laughed, "I see your point but she was surviving on her own in the forest, when I met her so she's pretty capable. That all?"  
  
"Actually... there is one more thing..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"They said that *you* saved Sephiroth, why?"  
  
Her expression became somewhat sentimental, "Because he saved me."  
  
'ok NOW I'm confused.' "Huh?"  
  
"I was in Hojo's possession in the tower for years. He helped me escape from Hojo, he... he treated me like a person and got me out of the tower." She grinned, "I bet Hojo was pissed."  
  
"Sephiroth... saved... you?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
Rufus just blinked and shook his head, "Well there was a lot more to him then I ever thought possible... Oh yeah where do I burn my old clothes?"  
  
Ralena laughed again, "Don't you worry I'll take care of it. Why don't you join the guys in the kitchen? I'm sure Reno would like to talk to an man who will actually talk back."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Does Vincent seem like a conversationalist to you?" She asked before walking down the hall.  
  
Were he a nosy person Rufus would have asked her what a woman like her was doing with a guy like Vincent. But being the guy he was he decided it would just be better off to ask Reno later.  
  
He was quite surpised to see Elena and Yuffie racing past him. As it turned out both young women realized at the exact same time that the shower was open. "No way I called it!" Elena shouted.  
  
"Screw you I live here now!"  
  
"Yeah so you should let your guest go first!"  
  
"Nuh-uh, back off woman!" He watched as the Turk barely made it to the bathroom first and a pushing match began with the door. After a minute or so the Turk won out and the door slammed shut. "Dammit!" Yuffie huffed her fists clenched angrily at her sides. She turned to walk down the hall then noticed Rufus standing there watching her on the verge of laughter. Yuffie blushed, laughed nervously and continued on down the hall.  
  
One thing was for sure staying here was going to be interesting, if not fun. And fun was something he had not had in a long time, even before Meteor.  
  
***  
  
There was a slight moan as the pod opened. A slim fingered hand pushed on it from the inside. "Hmmm..." The small bare foot touched the ground before another gracefully came out next to it. She stretched her arms up over her head, barely clad in a backless body suit. Her back was marked with strange patterns of color that went all the way up to her shoulders. One hand reached down lazily and undid her hair, long black locks cascaded down her back waving as she shook out her hair. "What a lovely nap." She went over to a closet and seeing nothing but lab coats opted against it. "Reaper," she called out, "Reaper sweety where are you?"  
  
She walked around the floor, "oops.. body," she said as though she were walking over a sleeping dog. "Here Reaper," she called as though it was a pet of hers. She reached the door to the staircase, easily pushing it open without its latch. "Ohh you figured out the gate," she pouted. She took light steps up the stairs, feet barely seeming to touch the ground. "I'll have to remember to thank whoever turned the light on."  
  
***  
  
Ralena sighed at the sight before her, Vincent, Reno, and Rufus were all sitting around the kitchen table teaching Sephiroth and Yuffie a game... poker. 'Oh well I guess there's no helping it.' She grabbed a stool and pulled it up to the table. "Hey guys deal me in." As she was delt in Vincent insisted she take the chair and he would sit on the stool. After a few rounds Elena came walking back into the kichten and a similar incident to the one Rufus witnessed before. Only this time Reno was the one to beat Yuffie to the bathroom. "Yuffie, you do know there is a bathroom upstairs you can shower in?" Ralena reminded.  
  
"Yeah but I figured with the hot water an-" A slow grin spread across her face. "Excuse me a moment."  
  
Ralena shrugged and they went back to their game. Before the last card was delt they heard a distinctive flushing noise come from upstairs followed by a scream coming from the downstairs shower. Elena looked glanced at her hostess then former employer and the three burst out laughing, especially when they heard another flush and scream. "GODDAMMIT I"M GONNA KILL YOU NINJA GIRL!!"  
  
Yuffie came back downstairs a very happy grin on her face and sat back down at the table. "So what's the ante?" She looked up and noticed everyone looking up behind her. "What?" She turned around and saw an angry, dripping wet, Reno with a towel around his waist and a little soap still in his hair. "Hey how's the shower?"  
  
Reno reached for the Ninja in an attempt to grab her but she ducked under the table crawling out the other side before running off, Reno not far behind. "Get back here you little-"  
  
"Ral! Call him off!" Once again everyone in the kitchen was laughing except for Vincent who just sighed shaking his head. Finally Reno caught her and carried her pass the kitchen with her thrown over his shoulder. "Put me down Dammit! Ralena? Rufus? Someone?! GODDAMMIT PUT ME DOWN!" With the screaming and kicking ninja he walked into the bathroom and threw her into the still running shower. "AHHH!!! It's COLD!"  
  
With a simple mock salute Reno grinned, "Enjoy your shower." Then the red head picked up his clothes and went to his room. Leaving the wet ninja girl in the bathroom.  
  
"Reno..." Vincent called as he passed the kitchen again.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You will clean up the water you tracked all over the house won't you." He said, more telling than asking.  
  
Reno almost pouted then looked to his giggling sister for assitance. Ralena just shook her head, "Don't look at me I'm not cleaning it up."  
  
Letting out a sigh of surrender Reno headed back towards his room, "Alright alright just let me get dressed."  
  
***  
  
"OH MY POOR BABY!" the woman cried as she saw the headless remains of her Reaper. "Ohh who did this to you?" She put her hand into the pool of it's dark blood and brought it up to her lips, some of her deceased pet's (?) memories comming to her in flashes as the rest of the blood seemed to absorb into her fingers. "Don't worry about it, Ferra will get those bad people who did this to you, after I get something to eat and do a few things." She looked up hearing the call of some beast off in the distance. She licked the blood from her lips a predatory grin spreading across her pretty face, "Speaking of dinner..."  
  
***  
  
Sephiroth had been put to bed before the puddles were cleaned up and Yuffie emerged again from the bathroom. When she came back downstairs, dressed in Pjs. It took all of five minutes for her and Reno to get into another childish argument which resulted in, of all things, a pillow fight between the two.  
  
Rufus turned to Vincent, "Are things always this exciting around here?"  
  
Vincent looked up, surprised that Rufus had addressed him. "Thankfully no. Things will probably calm down by tomorrow." Of course he had no idea how wrong he was.  
  
***  
  
As the morning sun broke over Bone Village the eager scientist got off the boat. After a quick breakfast he would head out to Icicle Village before getting some supplies and staying the night he would continue on to the Northern Crater.  
  
***  
  
"EEEYAAHHHHH!!!!" The scream echoed throughout the house not long after eight in the morning. Upon hearing it Rufus had almost thought he was still in the tower sublevels, with others who were dying horribly. He looked around the room confused until the scream broke off into angry shouting. "GODDAMMIT RENO! I SWEAR I'M GONNA.. I'm Gonna... ARRRGHHH!!!"  
  
Relieved to discover last night's events did not go away when he woke. He got up and, like the others in the house, flocked to the scene of the crime. A dripping trail of what appeared to be maple syrup and cereal led from Yuffie's bedroom to the nearest bathroom. Looking in the room they all saw what appeared to be two buckets over her bed. Her empty bed had syrup and cereal all over it. Elena turned around to look at Reno. "I'm impressed," the blonde said, "You actually got up early enough to do this before she woke up."  
  
Reno grinned broadly at her. "Yep it was worth it."  
  
"Of course you get to clean this up too," Vincent said  
  
"I don't care, it was still worth it."  
  
Rufus just stared and shook his head in disbelief.  
  
***  
  
The others ate breakfast while Yuffie chased Reno around the house with a pair of nunchucks. "I need to stop by the hospital shortly today," Ralena said looking at the clock.  
  
"What do you need to go to the hospital for?" Vincent asked concerned.  
  
"It's nothing, they just lost my blood sample is all."  
  
"That sounds strange."  
  
"I know but-"  
  
"GET BACK HERE!" Reno ran into the kitchen grabbed a piece of toast off the table and ran out the other way. Yuffie ran in behind him, but tripped over the mop Reno had not put away from the night before and landed not-so-graciously on top of Rufus, knocking his chair over and landing the two of them on the floor. "Ooowww..." She pushed herself up then noticed her landing cushion. "heh heh sorry..." she laughed nervously.  
  
Ralena looked at the floor decoration then back up at Vincent as though it were no surprise. "So how should we split them up today?"  
  
"...?"  
  
"Well someone has to watch Seph. And I figured someone needs to take Rufus to get some clothes. All I know is we need to split up Reno and Yuffie."  
  
Vincent eyed said ninja as Rufus helped her up then looked to Reno who waved at her mockingly from the doorway. "Agreed."  
  
***  
  
In the end Yuffie was Rufus' designated tour guide, since she knew the town better than Reno and Vincent wanted to spend the day with Ralena. Which left Elena and Reno to watch Sephiroth. The turks, Rufus, Yuffie and Sephiroth drove into town together and Elena dropped her fellow blonde and the ninja of by some of the shops. "Ok so what do you want to do fir-"  
  
"Haircut."  
  
"Okaaay then... barbar shop is... that way." They walked along in relative quiet for a while until after his haircut, which was the same as it had been before, but Yuffie, having never really seen him before yesteday, didn't really notice.  
  
"Yuffie?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"How did you get involved with AVALANCHE?"  
  
"Oh well I attacked them for their materia and... somehow I ended up joining them..." She tilted her head in thought, "You know now that I say it outloud it sounds really weird."  
  
Rufus chuckled a bit and shook his head, "It seems utterly ridiculous."  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I guess that's a stupid question... you inheirited ShinRa when Seph killed your dad didn't you?" Suddenly she stopped and blushed apologetically, "I.. I'm sorry I didn't mean... oh god I'm so stupid."  
  
He waved a hand to dispel her guilt, "Don't worry about it, he was never really much of a father to me anyway."  
  
"ok umm...." 'mustchangesubjectmustchangesubjectnustcha-' "Hey how about this store?"  
  
"Yeah sure."  
  
***  
  
"The arcade?" Elena asked looking up at where they had stopped.  
  
"Yeah o'course!" Reno said opening the door to the backseat for Sephiroth, "Com'on Seph I'll show you Galaga, great classic game." The boy cheered jumping out of the car.  
  
"Don't you think they wanted us to take to play outside.. like in a park or something? You know something more active?"  
  
"Ahh come on Elena I'm sure they take him out all the time. Now it's time to work on some of that hand-eye coordination," He smiled as though this was nobel pursuit.  
  
"Yeah right, you probably just want to try and beat that adventure game again... which one is it?"  
  
"Dungeons & Dragons," He put and arm around her shoulder and lured her into the arcade, "Come on Elle, I'll let you be the elf chick..."  
  
"Fine..."  
  
***  
  
"Got I *hate* needles," Ralena shuddered as they left the hospital  
  
"Well it's over and done with now," Vincent smiled taking her hand. "So what would you like to do?"  
  
"Why Mr.Valentine are you suggesting a date?"  
  
He grinned, "You could say that."  
  
***  
  
Ferra watched the red head and the man-monster as they mounted the chocobo and rode away. 'Well isn't that interesting...' she thought. Her blue eyes narrowed as she pushed her sunglasses back on her face. She would find out where they lived then she would leave town... there was the small matter of her mother to attend to before she delt with these people.  
  
-----------------------------------------------  
  
Hika-chan: Wet Reno in a towel *drool*  
  
Sephiroth: *pointing at HC* 'Lena she scares me  
  
Ralena: That's ok Sephiroth.. she scares us all...  
  
Yuffie: Hey Hika-chan Can I get Reno back sometime soon?  
  
Ralena: I don't think she can hear you. *takes Seph away from the scary lady*  
  
HC: *in la-la bishonen land* ohh maybe I should make them go swimming or something. Then I can get Rufus an... well Vincent porbably wouldn't but it's worth a shot!  
  
Yuffie: You do realize we don't have a pool right?  
  
HC: Ohh nooo...  
  
Yuffie: Anyway shouldn't you save all that stuff for a less serious fic?  
  
HC: Come on.. you can't tell me you don't wanna see some shirtless bishonen running around ^_~  
  
Yuffie: *blushes* Well that's beside the point!  
  
HC: *rubs her hands together grinning evilly* Don't worry I got some good stuff planned  
  
Yuffie: Great that probably means I'm gonna get killed or something...  
  
HC: BTW the prank on Yuffie goes out to all my BHC buddies!! You know who you are (if you're even reading this anyway!) 


	10. A Little Payback

**Barret**: Yo! That Hika-brat tol' me to tell you that she don't own us! That done I'm gonna go to a fanfic I'm actually in.  
**Hika-chan**: Ohh tou-chy  
**Barret**: Lay off brat!  
**HC**: *raspberry's in his general direction*  
**Barret**: *pulls up his gun arm* What was that?  
**HC**: eep.... you can go now if you want...  
**Barret**: Thought so...  
----------------------------------------------  
  


**Beautiful Nightmare**  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
**Chapter 10: A Little Payback**

  
  
The ex-ShinRa workers and ninja arrived back at the house around mid afternoon, "Hmm I wonder where Vince and Ral are..." Reno muttered, noticing that only the one Chocobo was in the yard. "Ah well hey Ruf come outside with me?"  
  
"What?" He asked having just put his bags in the room.  
  
"I wanna talk to you about something." The two went out onto the back porch, leaning up against the railing Reno lit up a ciggarette. "Rufus, I wanna know... what happened to Eveie?" Rufus stared up at him, surprised at the serious question. "We found the crypt.. and well I found this on one of the skeletons," he pulled out the gold chain and charm, "So I know it was her."   
  
Evelynne had been a friend of theirs growing up. Another poor orphan taken in by the ShinRa, she had never been as atheletically competent as the two boys, but she was very smart. Once when they were teens Reno had even asked her out, breifly causing an odd rift making Rufus often feel like a third wheel. Reno gave her the charm on her birthday that year, but later on the relationship had dissolved back into friendship. "Well as you know we were all trapped down there," Rufus began, "At first it was ok, we had power and food but as time passed some of the people inside kinda lost it, and well some got more violent than others." He paused turning to stare at the floor. "You know how she was though, always wanting to help no matter the situation. We were trying to stop this one guy and well... she got hurt. He hit her over the head with a metal pipe..."  
  
Reno looked down as well then back at his blonde comrade then let out a short laugh, "'Always wanting to help'... damn was she ever working for the wrong company."  
  
The two shared a bitter laugh and Rufus looked back up gazing out at the grassy wilderness behind the house. "When are you and Elena going back to Junon?"  
  
Reno shrugged, "I dunno, Elle'll probably wanna go back soon. But well I like spending time around my sis and Seph. O course now that Huffy the Ninja's here I might have to plan my visits better. What about you? You wanna come back to Junon with us?"  
  
"I honestly don't know, with ShinRa Inc. gone well.. my future's pretty uncertain. I mean I always knew I'd inherit the company but now.. well there is no company. I need time to think."  
  
The two stood in silence for a few minutes before Reno spoke up again, "Hey how did you survive the Diamond WEAPON attack anyway? Weren't you in your office?"  
  
"I was, but it was weird... This feeling just came over me, you know. Like it was dangerous and I had to get out. It seemed almost instinctual but it felt like it wasn't coming from me. So I started to leave. I barely made it out in time but the blast still knocked me out. Once I was found it turns out you, Reeve and the other Turks were already gone."  
  
Reno grinned, "Suffice to say we thought teaming up with AVALANCHE and taking a more 'hands on' aproach to Sephiroth was a good idea at the time." He took in a slow draw of his ciggarette thinking of what Rufus described a moment ago, _Hmmm.."This feeling... it felt like it wasn't coming from me".. could it have been Ral? We don't really know that much about her powers...._ He looked up to the blonde. "Hey wanna go out tonight?" He grinned, "Two bachelors such as ourselves should not sit at home all night."  
  
Rufus eyed his friend with a look of disbelief, "Reno..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I just got out of a year and a half in a hole and you want to go out?"  
  
The Turk shook his head with a small laugh, "Yeah I figure you either need to get piss drunk... or laid... or both."  
  
Rufus could not help but laugh at his friend, "Maybe tomorrow night."  
  
"You pwomise?" The red head asked like a child.  
  
"Don't make me smack you."  
  


***

  
  
"Ralena..."  
  
"Hmm?" The two were sitting out on the grass in the park. Ralena reclined back on her arms and Vincent sitting beside her.  
  
"Yesterday in Midgar..." Vincent began slowly, "We were fighting this thing and I... I turned into Chaos."  
  
"Oh really?" she said, not really seeing anything odd about it.  
  
He nodded, "But it was nothing like the times before. I completely lost all control of it, I almost attacked the others it wasn't until Yuffie mentioned you and the baby that I was able to regain control." He turned his red eyes on her, "I realized that when I caught you on the tower I was in complete control thanks to you, and while in other battles I had lost it, I had enough control not to attack our comrades. But Chaos completely had me then, and I think it's because you weren't there Ralena." He smiled and took her hand, "It is like you are my anchor," his smile faded somewhat, "But I fear that one day, even with you around I'll lose total control and hurt you... or worse."  
  
She gently reached up a hand to his face and smiled. "That will never happen. Because you will always have me here," she said moving her hand to his heart. "And you will always have our child there as well." She took his hand and moved it to her stomach, "What more could you ask for?" She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.  
  


***

  
  
Oh god she was about to gag. If these two didn't stop this nonsese she would probably just give up and kill them outright. But then where would the tortourous fun come in? No she would have to bide her time... When were they going to go home!? Finally a few minutes later the couple got up and left the park and headed off towards home. "About damn time," she muttered, getting up and following them discretely. When they reached the house she lightly jumped up into a nearby tree, oh this was just too perfect! All five of the people who had fought the reaper were here, though it did take her a while to identify the one, he had already changed so much. "Alright then, now that that's done it's time to go pay mother a visit..."  
  


***

  
  
Yuffie awoke in the middle of the night from some odd dream she could barely remember. It was good and fun, then bad, then kinda on the rebound towards good when she woke. But even so it was enough to keep her awake staring into the shadows of her room. Maybe if she got up and got herself a drink of water... She stopped the second she opened the door, hearing a noise from downstairs, 'A burglar?' She blindly reached over and grabbed the nearest thing she could use for a weapon. Now armed she slowly crept down the stairs, and into the kitchen from where the noise orginated, seeing the dark figure shifting through a drawer. She slowly reached over and turned on the light, readying her weapon.  
  
When the lights turned on Rufus spun, pointing the utensil in his hand like a weapon almost on instinct. He blinked seeing the young ninja before him. They both stared a moment, eyes adjusting to the light. Then Yuffie raised a brow at his would be weapon, "A plastic knife?"  
  
He looked down at the object in his hand then up at Yuffie, "A foam bat?"  
  
"Eh?" She looked at the bat, _When the hell did that get in my room?_ She looked back up at him then began laughing, "Yeah I guess you got a point there. What are you doing in here?"  
  
"Sandwich. You?"  
  
"Drink," she answered deciding against mentioning her dream. "Why didn't you turn the light on?"  
  
Rufus shrugged, "Didn't need it. Used to the dark remember?"  
  
"Yeah I guess you would be," She said opening the fridge, then suddenly she hoped that didn't sound too casual considering the circumstances. She put the orange juice on the table then went to a cabinet to get a drink, bringing her somewhat close to the blonde houseguest, though neither seemed to notice. Catching a glance at the plates as she opened the cabinet, he caught it before it closed. They were in silence for sometime, Yuffie thinking intently on something as she drank her juice and Rufus constucting his midnight snack. "Man I gotta think of something..." Yuffie muttered to herself.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Eh? oh sorry... I was just trying to think of something to do..."  
  
"About?"  
  
She grinned and leaned back, "To get Reno back of course. But I don't want to do anything that will involve me having to clean up."  
  
Rufus moved to the table, thoughts turning in his mind, "Hey Yuffie... Just how stealthy are you?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  


***

  
  
The alarm in his room went off surprisingly early to him, as he rolled over and smacked the snooze button. Wait a minute... since when did he set the alarm? After a few futile smacks of the table top the redhead opened on emerald eye. The alarm clock wasn't there but the distinct irritating buzzing sound was. Squeezing his eyes shut he rolled over to grab another pillow to put over his head only to find none. _What the hell?_ He sat up and looked around the room, nothing seemed overly out of place that he could notice in his half awake state. He looked around seeing one thing out of place though, the alarm clock was buzzing annoyingly on the ground. _fucking piece of.._ He picked it up and turned off the alarm. _Wait a second... where's my suitcase?_  
  
He stood up finally noticing that he had not kicked off his comforter, the thick blanket was gone. He opened his closet finding nothing inside, and noticed his nightstick was missing as well. "Oh shit..." he muttered then noticed the open window. "You have got to be shitting me!"  
  
"I've been robbed!?" Vincent looked up from the coffee he was making at the disbelief in the Turk's voice. The red head entered the kitchen in his boxers, "Vince I think we've been robbed."  
  
Vincent just looked at him and looked around, "Everything out here is normal."  
  
"They took all my fucking clothes!"  
  
"..."  
  
They heard a yawn and Ralena entered the kitchen, "Look what I found in the stable, I wonder if Haretia stole it off a clothes line or something."  
  
Reno ran over and grabbed the object in question, "That's my shirt!" He declared taking it from his sister's grasp. He sniffed it then realized it reaked of chocobo. "Oh shit... don't tell me that." He ran out on the back porch. The blue chocobo had several pieces of clothing in her mouth and she dropped them on a small pile in the yard. Then she turned around and scratched the ground at her feet, spraying dirt all over the small pile.  
  
Reno was so shocked he hadn't even noticed Yuffie sitting on the railing watching the chocobo and Rufus leaning on it beside her, both holding a cup of some kind of Wutaian tea or another. She grinned in Reno's direction then turned back to her blonde accomplice. "Now wasn't that a lovely sunrise Mr. President?"  
  
"Indeed, and don't you think the chocobo show was quite entertaining Lady Ninja?"  
  
"Oh yes quite interesting behavior..."  
  
The turk immediately turned on the two, "You did this didn't you!?" he glared, pointing at the ninja.  
  
"Oh please Reno," she said reverting back to normal speach, "How could I have possibly gotten all that stuff without waking you?"  
  
"And you! You helped her didn't you!? How could you help the enemy like that?"  
  
Rufus blinked, "I have no idea what you are talking about Reno." He took a sip from his cup, "And what's all this talk about the enemy? Is there some gender war I wasn't informed of?"  
  
"Why you-" He stopped as he noticed the mound of earth growing over his belongings, "Dammit bird will you stop that!?" Haretia looked up at him and gave him the chocobo equvalent of what he was sure was a raspberry then walked off back into the stable. Reno jumped the fence and went to get his clothes mumbling various obscenities as he headed to the laundry room.  
  
Yuffie and Rufus shared a sly grin. "Payback's a bitch ain't it?" she said before exchanging a hi-five.  
  


***

  
  
After the morning's events, which Elena was quite upset that she missed, the day was far more subdued than the previous day. The blonde Turk was pounding away on her laptop, decrypting and sorting through all the information on JENOVA trying to find that which was most relevant. Ralena was going to have a few people over for piano lessons. Reno did his laundry grumbling and cursing incessantly, he also spent sometime in the stable looking for his weapon. (fortunately they only hid the pillow and blankets which he found under his bed). His rival (Yuffie) was in the process of turning the basement into a gym of some sort and setting up her weapons in a lockable case similar to the one that Vincent kept his guns (and Rufus') in except that her's was a glass case as opposed to a safe. Sephiroth was spending most of his time with Ralena and Reno, between lessons and loads of laundry. As it turned out Vincent and Rufus found something in common as far as their interest in firearms and examined his collection.  
  
Sometime that afternoon Rufus approached Ralena, "Ralena, could I take one of the chocobo's out for a ride?"  
  
"I don't see why not, you know how to ride?"  
  
He smiled confidently, "It's been awhile but I'm sure I can handle it."  
  
She led him out back, "You can take Haretia, she knows the area better than Thunder and she'll know the way back if you get lost." The ex-president nodded, slightly put off at the idea that he might do something so stupid as get lost. The empath led him outside and prepared the chocobo. "Now don't go throwing him off you here me girl?" The chocobo cooed back at her and nuzzled into her shoulder. "Oh come on don't give me that, I'm sure he'll bring you back." She turned back to Rufus, "You wanna grab some water and maybe a weapon?"  
  
Oh yeah.. he had almost forgotten about that he must be loosing his touch. "I'll be right back." A few minutes inside and Rufus returned, shotgun strapped to his back and a bottle of water in hand. "I'll try not to be too long."  
  
"Take your time, as long as you bring my girl back." She said opening the gate.  
  
"Trust me." He grinned evilly as though trying to get a rise out of her but the empath knew better.  
  
Back inside Elena felt that her eyes would explode, "Reno what do we do with all this stuff once we get the information we need?"  
  
The turk sat down beside her in a pair of borrowed slacks, "Well since no one in the Turks or AVALANCHE is a doctor, we find the cure or whatever, give it to someone who will know what the hell they're doing better than us..."  
  
"We give them the information on JENOVA?"  
  
"No, only the bare essentials then we destroy everything we don't want to risk another Seph-" he cut himself off, "Another incident like before..."  
  
"Are you sure we should destroy it?"  
  
"Hell yes!"  
  
"But what if there's something else out there?" She gestured to the computer screen, "I mean Hojo made so many monsters how do we know if their all dead? Shouldn't we keep the information safe incase something else happens?"  
  
Reno sighed, "It may already be too late for that." Elena looked at him confused. "Ral's blood sample mysteriously went missing from the hospital Elle. What do you think that means? Any scientist working with Hojo could be more than qualified to do blood work. I'm betting that it wasn't misplaced, and that someone is missing from their job."  
  
"You want me to check it out online."  
  
"No, I don't want to risk that information getting out in the slightest, besides I already called Rude in on it."  
  
"What about the bar?"  
  
Reno shrugged, "He said that Terri could handle it for a few days."  
  


***

  
  
About four hours after Rufus left, there was still no luck on the files. "God how much crap is there!?" Elena cursed rubbing her eyes. She had only been through four CDs and there were at least thirty left on JENOVA alone, not counting the ones on Ralena. She looked up hearing the phone ring, which was doing no good for the headache she was developing trying to sort through all this scientific mumbo jumbo. "Could someone get that before my brain explodes?"  
  
Vincent picked up the phone, "Hello?"  
  
Ralena walked over to the Turk, handing her some asprin and water, "I really wanna thank you for helping me out Elena."  
  
She smiled, "Hey no problem."  
  
They heard Vincent in the kitchen. "See you soo-" He was cut off by the sound of an aircraft over head. Vincent sighed, "See you now then." He hung up and walked to the dining room where the two girls were. "Cloud's here with the files from Nibelhiem."  
  
----------------------------------------------------------  
**Hika-chan**: I'm sure you've probably noticed but the Storyline is straying a bit from Ral and Vince huh? Well I always like writing the pairing up of people better than all the stuff afterwards, it just seems more interesting to me. But it'll swing back around some I'm sure... once I actually get the damn villian in action!  
**Ferra**: When do I get to do stuff?  
**HC**: Well I need to wait for-  
**Ferra**: Don't give me that bullshit just stop making evey chapter one day! Summerize and get it over with ok?  
**HC**: but.. but...  
**Ferra**: I don't want to hear it, if I don't do something evil next chapter I'm leaving.  
**HC**: *sighs* I'll see what I can do....  
**Ferra**: *turns to the readers* Oh yeah when are you gonna R&R huh? **HC**: Hey don't be so rude! **Ferra**: Quiet you! **HC**: -eep!- 


	11. Reunions

**Tseng:** *just sits there at a table*-blink blink-  
**Hika-chan:** Well?  
**Tseng:** Well what?  
**Hika-chan:** Say the disclaimer dammit!  
**Tseng:** Oh I'm sorry, I thought I was on my coffee break. (It's been a while since this has been updated.)  
**Hika-chan:** Then where's your coffee?(could you please not mention the update thing?)  
**Tseng:** You're not the waitress?  
**Hika-chan:** *glare* no.  
**Tseng:** *shrugs* anyway Final Fantasy still does not belong to HC and I'm sure you know that very well.  
**Hika-chan:** But of course they will belong to me after tonight!  
**Tseng:** Why? What are you going to do tonight?  
**Hika-chan:** The same thing I do every night Tsengy plot to take over the world! ...Then get to lazy to go through with it.  
**Tseng:** -Blink Blink-  
----------------------------------------------  


**Beautiful Nightmare**  
An FF7 Fanfic by Hika-chan  
Chapter 11: Reunions

  
  
  
  
They sat around the dining room table, Elena still hard at work with the JENOVA files, Reno sat on one side of her with Ralena next to him, Vincent and Yuffie served as the buffer on Elena's other side. Cloud, along with a few other members of AVALANCHE had never truly come to completely trust the Turks, or at the least didn't like them very much. Cloud, Tifa, Cid and Red XIII had all come, though the beast was not at the table with them and was playing with Sephiroth. Unlike a good deal of people Red was quite fond of the him dispite the boy's.. heritage.   
  
On one side of the room there were three boxes of papers, "That's what seemed like the most relevant information," Cloud said, "There are a few more boxes on the Highwind but If you really need us to we can go back and get more we can, but you know there's a whole library of stuff down there."   
  
"Literally," Ralena muttered. "Hopefully we won't need it, we found alot of the files backed up on CD, Elena's been going through them since this morning."   
  
The female turk nudged Reno beneath the table and he made like he was peaking over her shoulder to the screen out of curiosity. She had opened a writing program and it were the words "Where's Rufus?" Reno shrugged, acting like it was because he didn't know what he was looking on the screen. Elena typed more, "Should we try to intercept? Keep him from running into the rest of AVALANCHE?"   
  
Just then there was a sound as the back door opened and closed. "Sorry it took me so long to get back, I completely lost track of-" Rufus stopped as he saw a good portion of AVALANCHE sitting around the dining room table."...time."   
  
"Holy shit."   
  
Cloud looked up at Cid's curse, immediately standing and grabbing for his sword. Which of course resulted in Reno drawing his electro rod and Elena pulling a gun. Ralena remained seated her head in one of her hands and sipped her drink she looked over at Vincent as if to say "You wanna handle this?" Vincent sighed and stood, "Everyone put your weapons down." Elena was the first to comply, sitting back down at her laptop, Reno was next though he did not sit and remained on guard.   
  
Seeing that Ralena was obviously not surprised by his presence AVALANCHE relaxed. "Shit Ralena," Cid muttered, taking his seat, "You take in just about anybody don't you?"   
  
The empath smiled, "You could say that. Being an empath tends to make one more sympathetic."   
  
Tifa smiled at the half joke, "You got any other surprises for us Ralena? Heidegger perhaps or maybe Scarlet?" Reno and Rufus visibly shuddered at the mention of the woman's name. "Did I say something wrong?"   
  
Rufus turned to his friend, "Please tell me she's not around anymore."   
  
Reno shrugged, "I haven't seen her and I hope I never do!"   
  
"Excuse me," Cloud interrupted, "But we have more important things to talk about."   
  
Reno turned to Rufus and grinned, nothing like pissing off AVALANCHE members to lighten up your day. "Like what? How much hairspray it takes to keep your hair up like that?" Seeing where this was going already, Elena picked up her laptop and disks and went into the other room incase things got violent.   
  
Rufus smirked back. "Maybe he's talking about getting a larger sword to compensate for something?"   
  
The red head looked at Rufus questioningly, "Ya think?" Cloud stood picking up his sword again, this time neither of the ex-ShinRa men seemed to react. Reno eyes him as though trying to read his mind, "You know, it probably has something to do with him not really having ever been in SOLDIER."   
  
Ralena sighed into her hands.   
  
"That's right, he never did make it did he?"   
  
"Whether I did or not I kicked your ass."   
  
"No..." Rufus corrected, "You and two of your other little buddies did."   
  
Reno tsked and shook his head, "Honestly I thought he could at least count that high."   
  
Tifa, figuring out this was all just a game to the two, followed Ralena's lead. Cloud was getting angry and she just didn't feel like dealing with it today. "Hey Ralena?"   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Got any ideas as to how we can avoid the headache that will arrive?" She asked while the verbal beating of Cloud continued in the background. Ralena smiled and left the room, an idea obviously having formed. When she returned the events had degenerated to name calling.   
  
"Lush."   
  
"Only according to some, Porcupine head," Reno mocked.   
  
"Womanizer."   
  
"And proud of it Can Opener."   
  
"Flunkie"   
  
"Say now that I think about it what was with that Rainbow Sword of yours?"   
  
"Reno."   
  
"Yeah sis?"   
  
He turned seeing her toss some car keys to Vincent, "Vincent could you be a dear and take the guys out for a drink?" she glanced at her brother as his eyes lit up, before muttering, "...or ten."   
  
Vincent raised a brow, "You want me to take all of them to a bar... together?"   
  
She grinned, "Yeah that way if they get into a fight I don't have to put up with it. And they'll get to enjoy the accomidations in jail so I can sleep peacefully."   
  
"SHOTGUN!" Reno yelled and ran out towards Elena's car.   
  
The others seemed to shrug in agreement and headed out the door. "Is it necessary I go with them?" Vincent asked.   
  
"You're they only one Elena trusts with her car... that and I know you won't crash it." She gave him a peck on the cheek as if to show her trust. Vincent nodded and headed out the door.   
  
Fortunately none of the guys caused a barfight that night. When things began to get a bit heated between Cloud and Rufus, Reno suggested a drinking match between the two and immediately ordered a bottle of Tequela for it. Even though Cloud won it seemed as though he was only two shots away from a meeting between him and the floor himself. It wasn't till around two a.m. that Vincent returned, dragging Rufus into his room, and reminding Reno where his was as it looked like he was about to sleep in the bathtub. Fortunately Cid remained sober enough (though not by much) to remember where he was staying and help Cloud. 

  
  
***

  
  
He had finally made it. The interior of the crater made his travel dangerous in itself, if he had not had an Enemy Away materia then he knew he would never have made it this far. He searched the ground beneath him looking for anything, he pulled the vial out of his pocket and looked at it. Then he felt it, a light pulling in his hand. The vial or the blood within was trying to get somewhere. He followed it until he came upon a small peice of blue-gray flesh.   
  
He opened the vial and the blood all but jumped out of it's container onto the mere handful of what remained of JENOVA. A slow conciousness began to form, the cells began to digest and process all the information they had as they came back to life, becoming more active once again. _Where am I? Ahh yes, the crater. Damn those human vermin!_ The flesh twitched in agitation.   
  
"Yes...it's alive," the scientist breathed, "It's really responding!"   
  
_-hmph- and whose this? Another fool who doesn't realize what he's doing. At least he has been of some use to me._   
  
The man knelt down and went to pick up the writhing piece of flesh. It twitched slightly, then burst up landing on his forehead. "What the-" his curiosity was cut off by pain as the small being on his face began to bore into his forehead. His screams echoed throughout the crater as spidery viens dug through his skull, entraping and controlling his brain.   
  
"Ahh much better," he said, flexing his arms and turning his head. "I'll have to manage with this body until I regenerate." JENOVA stood, a bit shakey at first before quickly regaining her balance. She sighed and looked up, she would actually have to climb out? How quaint.   
  
Sunlight spread over the glacier as JENOVA finally got out of the pit. Crossing over the lip of the crater she skidded down the side.   
  
About an hour after crossing the glacier she stopped, sensing part of her nearby. JENOVA turned to see what appeared to be a young woman, horribly underdressed for such weather. She stood before the possessed man, only in a body suit, the cold having no effect on her whatsoever. Her long black hair blew in the wind and she grinned at the alien before her. "Hello... mother." 

  
  
***

  
  
"Ohh my head," was a thought that hit quite a few men as they rolled out of bed that morning (and in a few cases fell out). Rufus and Cloud would similarly spent some time "woshipping the porcelin god" as Reno so delicately put it, as a consequence for their little competition the night before.   
  
But as it was two people were a litte to busy to notice. "Oh god," Ralena whispered.   
  
"What's wrong?" Vincent asked rolling over to look at her.   
  
"It's JENOVA."   
  
"What?"   
  
"I can feel her ever so slightly in the back of my head. She's not dead... at least not anymore." Before she could say anymore he drew her into his arms holding her tightly, doing his best to comfort her. But he himself could not let go of the gnawing in his stomach. 

  
  
***

  
  
Downstairs there was a knock at the door and Elena, who was sober, awake, and downstairs was the only one to hear it. Taking her coffee cup with her she answered the door. "Oh hey Rude."   
  
"Reno awake yet?"   
  
Elena glanced at the clock, "Not bloody likely."   
  
He walked in Elena leading him into the kitchen, after about ten minutes they were joined by Seohiroth and Red, then Yuffie. Another ten minutes after that Ralena and Vincent came down. "Rude? What are you doing here?" the red head didn't even hesitate to ask.   
  
"Reno called me and asked me to check something out at the hospital."   
  
"The hospital? Why?" Ralena was throughly confused.   
  
Rude dropped a file on the table, "When he found out, he suspected that someone stole your blood sample. He asked me to see if anyone took an unexpected holiday."   
  
Vincent picked up the file and examined it, "One of Hojo's old assitants..." Ralena shot a hand up to her head and grabbed onto the nearest thing, which happened to be Vincent. He helped her sit down.   
  
"Another dizzy spell?" Yuffie asked.   
  
"Dammit, can't those stupid bastards ever leave well enough alone!?" She muttered before clutching her stomach. "-nnngh-" The empath gritted her teeth and tried to stand, "I need to go lay down..." She doubled over, Vincent wasted no time in picking her up and carrying her back upstairs. 

  
  
***

  
  
JENOVA looked over at the woman before her, "And who are you?"   
  
"The name's Ferra," she smiled, "I know I'm not your biological daughter... I don't even know if that's possible. But with a dead body and a little bit of you and some other stuff Hojo made me."   
  
"Hojo," JENOVA hissed the name, while the scientist had given her a means to take this world she dispised him for keeping her locked up in some tube for decades.   
  
"But as it is poor daddy's dead, long gone thanks to AVALANCHE. But I'm not here to talk about such things." Ferra felt an idea push itself into her head. She gave a mock gasp, "Bad mommy, trying to take me over like that. -tsk tsk tsk- Honestly don't you trust me?"   
  
"No."   
  
"Smart lady." JENOVA barely caught the movement, in less than an instant Ferra stood not one foot from her in her borrowed body. "It's time to come out mummy, we're going to have a little reunion of sorts." Ferra reached up a delicate hand and touched the spot on the scientists forehead where what was JENOVA was visible. Then the some of the colored markings on her back pulled off wrapping around the man's body, pulling it closer. As they touched they began to slowly meld together. Apparently the whole ordeal was quite painful to JENOVA as she screamed out in pain and protest. Ferra's head was tilted back in ecstacy as she laughed, when all that was once JENOVA and some scientist were gone, only Ferra stood, "Hmmmm... yummy scientist you had there, mommy." 

  
  
***

  
  
Back in Kalm Ralena's scream echoed throughout the house, alarming even those who were emmersed in their hangovers enough to make them forget about their own pain. Her blood felt like it was on fire as the alien cells reacted painfully to events half a world away. She tightly rolled up into a fetal position, grasping her stomach where most of the pained cells were concentrated. Yuffie was the first to open the door, finding Vincent pulling his fiancee' into his arms. They watched as Ralena tried to breath through the pain and let out small cries. Sephiroth peaked in, "'Lena?"   
  
Vincent looked up at the child's voice, then back up at the ninja, "Yuffie, take Seph outside please." She nodded and wasted no time leading the child out passed the small crowd by the door. After a few minutes she seemed to calm and at Vincent's urged their friends dispersed, several going to the piles of papers that were waiting downstairs to see what they could do.   
  
"Oh my poor baby," she moaned quietly, "Don't worry baby.. you'll be ok. I promise." As it was Vincent was not even sure she knew he was there, but he needed to hold her now, almost as much as she needed it.   
  
Tifa came in quietly putting down a tray with some juice on it, and offered a reassuring look to Vincent. She knelt down beside the bed and took one of Ralena's hands, "Don't worry Ralena, we'll get you through this. You know all of us are here for you." She stood and cast one last glance at the pair. "Call me if you need anything," She whispered and walked out the door.   
  
Outside Reno was leaned against the wall next to the door. Tifa just smiled weakly at the worried brother and continued on her way. "Should we take her to the hospital?" He heard Elena ask from downstairs.   
  
"Why? It's not like they would know what to do."   
  
"Well it looks to me like they would know better than us. I mean look at all the information we got and we're still getting nowhere."   
  
"We'll find it," Cid muttered, "Just shut up and keep looking." -----------------------------------------------  
**Hika-chan:** Okie day sped things up a bit.. well not really it's just that stuff finally happened... Is Tequela drunk in shots?  
**Vincent:** *glares at her*  
**Hika-chan:** *feels his eyes on her and turns around* -eep- What?  
**Vincent:** *Continues Glaring*...  
**Hika-chan:** Ummm... you want to shoot something don't you?  
**Vincent:** *slow nod*...  
**Hika-chan:** And it's either Hojo or something small and chibi-like isn't it?  
**Vincent:** *narrows eyes*...  
**Hika-chan:** *sweatdrops and laughes nervously* ^_^' eh heh heh heh, I'm uhhh gonna go... *Scurries off*  
**Vincent:** *grins*  



End file.
